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Welcome to another evening of exciting European Cup soccer. 9 fixtures are scheduled for tonight, featuring three British teams in play. Chelsea face Barcelona in the standout match of the night, while The Magpies travel to the French side and City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the midway stage of the league stage, meaning the table is taking form. All six British teams are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 pts separating 5th and sixteenth place, so there's a sense of volatility about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

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

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues team. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

Yamal starts for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

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

Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle traveled to the French south coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight victory over City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a available twelve and direct qualification 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.