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Greetings to a fresh night of exciting European Cup soccer. Nine matches are scheduled for tonight, featuring 3 English clubs in action. Chelsea face Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, whilst The Magpies travel to Marseille and City welcome Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the midway point of the group phase, meaning the table is beginning to form. Each of the six British clubs are presently in the top 12, but there are only 2 pts separating fifth and sixteenth place, so there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

Here are tonight’s matches, each starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (17:45)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (5.45pm)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea side. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Rashford is among the substitutes.

The Blues (probable four-three-three) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil lead away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle arrived in the French south fresh from their restorative 2-1 home Premier League victory over City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away win since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a available twelve and automatic qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.