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Welcome to another night of thrilling European Cup football. 9 fixtures are scheduled for this evening, with 3 British clubs in action. Chelsea meet Barcelona in the standout match of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the midway point of the league stage, meaning the standings is beginning to form. Each of the six British clubs are presently in the top 12, however there are only 2 points between 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Match Schedule

Here are this evening's fixtures, each kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Squad Updates

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

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

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

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barça (possible four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, won by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage away to the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France fresh from their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight win against City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the European table, with nine pts from a available 12 and automatic progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the MBM equivalent of Diego Maradona is handling for that.