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Welcome to a fresh night of exciting European Cup football. 9 matches are scheduled for this evening, featuring three English teams in action. Chelsea take on Barça in the key fixture of the night, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway point of the group phase, so the standings is taking form. Each of the six British sides are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only two pts between 5th and sixteenth position, so there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

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

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

Team News

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

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

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

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City 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 two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute strike has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies arrived in the south of France fresh from their restorative two-one home Premier League victory against City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a available 12 and direct qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

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