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Welcome to a fresh night of thrilling European Cup soccer. Nine matches are planned for this evening, featuring 3 British clubs in action. Chelsea meet Barcelona in the standout fixture of the evening, while The Magpies visit Marseille and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway point of the group phase, so the rankings is taking form. Each of the six British teams are currently in the top 12, however there are only two pts separating fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

Here are tonight’s fixtures, all kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

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

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

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle arrived in the south of France coming off their restorative two-one home Premier League win over City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible 12 and direct qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.