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Greetings to another evening of exciting European Cup soccer. Nine fixtures are planned for this evening, with 3 English teams in action. Chelsea meet Barcelona in the key match of the evening, while The Magpies visit the French side and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the midway stage of the league stage, so the table is taking form. Each of the six English teams are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 points between 5th and 16th position, thus there's a sense of uncertainty about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are tonight’s fixtures, all kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (17:45)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (5.45pm)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea team. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is on the bench.

Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barcelona (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, claimed by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute strike has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle arrived in the French south coming off their restorative two-one home English top-flight win over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road 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 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 9 points from a possible 12 and direct qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is handling for that.