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Welcome to another night of electrifying European Cup soccer. Nine games are planned for tonight, featuring three British clubs in play. Chelsea take on Barça in the standout match of the night, while Newcastle travel to the French side and City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the midway stage of the group stage, meaning the table is starting to take shape. All six English clubs are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only two points separating 5th and 16th place, thus there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. All remains open.

Match Schedule

Here are this evening's games, each kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

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

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Blues lineup. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

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

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute strike has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the French south fresh from their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight win over City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available 12 and direct qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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