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Welcome to another night of thrilling European Cup football. Nine matches are scheduled for tonight, featuring 3 English clubs in play. Chelsea meet Barça in the standout fixture of the night, while Newcastle travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway point of the group phase, meaning the rankings is taking form. All six British clubs are presently in the top 12, but there are only 2 points between fifth and 16th position, thus there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are this evening's games, all starting at 8pm except where noted:

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (5.45pm)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (17:45)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea lineup. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Rashford is on the bench.

The Blues (possible four-three-three) Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil lead away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle arrived in the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight win against City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the European table, with 9 pts from a available 12 and direct qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Maradona is on duty for that.