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Greetings to a fresh night of thrilling European Cup football. 9 fixtures are scheduled for tonight, including 3 English teams in play. The Blues take on Barça in the marquee match of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to the French side and City welcome Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway point of the group stage, meaning the standings is beginning to form. All six English sides are presently in the top 12, however there are only two pts separating 5th and sixteenth position, so there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are tonight’s fixtures, all starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Squad Updates

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

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

The Blues (possible 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight win over City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away victory since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible twelve and automatic progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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