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Greetings to a fresh night of exciting European Cup soccer. 9 fixtures are planned for this evening, with three British clubs in play. Chelsea take on Barça in the standout match of the evening, while Newcastle travel to Marseille and City host Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the midway point of the league phase, meaning the standings is beginning to form. Each of the six British clubs are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only two points separating 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

Here are this evening's matches, all starting at 8pm except where noted:

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea side. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal starts for Barça; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barcelona (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

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

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies traveled to the French south coming off their restorative two-one home English top-flight victory over Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

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

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is handling for that.