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Greetings to a fresh night of thrilling European Cup soccer. Nine matches are scheduled for this evening, with three British teams in action. The Blues meet Barça in the marquee match of the night, whilst Newcastle visit Marseille and City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway stage of the group stage, meaning the rankings is starting to take shape. Each of the six British sides are currently in the top 12, but there are only 2 points between 5th and 16th place, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. All remains open.

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)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (17:45)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

The Blues (probable four-three-three) Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

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

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, won by an emerging 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 in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the south of France coming off their restorative 2-1 home Premier League win over Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road win since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

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 coach, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine pts from a possible twelve and direct progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is handling for that.