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Greetings to a fresh night of electrifying European Cup football. 9 games are planned for this evening, including 3 British teams in action. The Blues meet Barcelona in the standout fixture of the evening, while The Magpies travel to Marseille and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway stage of the league stage, so the rankings is taking form. Each of the six English teams are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only two pts separating 5th and sixteenth place, so there's a sense of uncertainty about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

Here are this evening's fixtures, each starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

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

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

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

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

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

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, won by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle arrived in the French south coming off their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight victory over Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available twelve and automatic progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

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