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Greetings to a fresh evening of exciting European Cup football. Nine fixtures are scheduled for this evening, with 3 British teams in play. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the key match of the night, while The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway point of the league stage, meaning the rankings is taking form. All six British clubs are presently in the top 12, but there are only 2 pts between 5th and 16th position, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the whole thing. All remains open.

Match Schedule

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

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

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea lineup. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is on the bench.

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

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

Barcelona (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, won by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the French south coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win over Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road victory since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine points from a available twelve and automatic progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.