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Welcome to a fresh night of electrifying European Cup football. 9 games are planned for this evening, including 3 British clubs in play. Chelsea face Barcelona in the standout match of the evening, while The Magpies travel to the French side and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway stage of the league stage, so the rankings is starting to take shape. All six English teams are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts between 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

Here are this evening's matches, all kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

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

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues lineup. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barça (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, won by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

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

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though The Magpies arrived in the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a possible 12 and direct qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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