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Welcome to a fresh night of thrilling European Cup football. 9 matches are set for this evening, with three British teams in play. The Blues meet Barcelona in the marquee fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies visit Marseille and City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway point of the league stage, meaning the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six British clubs are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 points between 5th and 16th position, so there's a sense of volatility about the whole thing. All remains open.

Match Schedule

Here are this evening's games, each starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Squad Updates

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea lineup. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

Chelsea (possible four-three-three) Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won 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.

Initial Game Reports

Just one 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 The Magpies traveled to the French south coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight win over City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is handling for that.