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Greetings to a fresh night of thrilling European Cup soccer. 9 games are set for this evening, including 3 English teams in action. Chelsea meet Barça in the marquee match of the evening, whilst The Magpies visit Marseille and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway point of the group stage, so the rankings is taking form. All six British teams are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 points separating fifth and 16th position, thus there's a sense of volatility about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Match Schedule

Here are this evening's fixtures, all starting at 8pm unless stated:

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barça; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

Barcelona (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute goal has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle arrived in the south of France fresh from their restorative 2-1 home Premier League victory over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road win since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible 12 and automatic progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “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 handling for that.