🔗 Share this article European Cup Action Tonight: Marseille v Newcastle & More Greetings to another evening of exciting Champions League soccer. Nine matches are set for tonight, featuring three British clubs in play. Chelsea meet Barça in the marquee fixture of the evening, while Newcastle travel to the French side and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen. League Table We're at the midway point of the league phase, so the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six English sides are currently in the top 12, but there are only two pts separating 5th and 16th position, so there's a sense of volatility about the whole thing. Everything is to play for. This Evening's Games These are tonight’s matches, each kicking off at 8:00 PM 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 Napoli v Qarabag Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao Team News Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea side. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap. Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench. The Blues (possible four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho. Subs: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte. Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski. Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji. Official Vincic (Slovenian). Historical Context The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history. Initial Game Reports Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead at the Dutch side. Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille Even though The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight win against City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG. Not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with nine points from a possible 12 and automatic progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.” We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is on duty for that.