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Welcome to another evening of exciting European Cup soccer. Nine games are planned for this evening, with 3 English teams in action. Chelsea meet Barça in the marquee match of the evening, whilst The Magpies visit the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway point of the group phase, so the standings is beginning to form. All six British teams are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only two pts separating fifth and 16th place, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

These are tonight’s matches, all starting at 8pm unless stated:

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

Squad Updates

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea lineup. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barcelona (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, claimed by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle arrived in the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight win over City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the European table, with nine points from a possible twelve and automatic progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Maradona is handling for that.