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Welcome to a fresh night of thrilling European Cup football. 9 games are planned for tonight, with 3 English teams in action. Chelsea take on Barça in the marquee match of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to Marseille and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the halfway stage of the league phase, meaning the table is beginning to form. Each of the six English teams are presently in the top 12, but there are only two points separating fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a sense of uncertainty about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are tonight’s games, each kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

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

Team News

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

Chelsea (probable four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, won by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle traveled to the French south fresh from their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available twelve and automatic qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

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