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Greetings to a fresh evening of exciting European Cup football. 9 games are planned for this evening, including three British clubs in action. The Blues take on Barcelona in the standout fixture of the evening, while Newcastle travel to the French side and City welcome Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the midway point of the group stage, so the rankings is starting to take shape. All six British sides are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only two points separating fifth and 16th place, thus there's a hint of volatility about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

These are this evening's games, each starting at 8pm unless stated:

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

Squad Updates

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

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barcelona (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, claimed 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

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight victory over City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine points from a available twelve and automatic progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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