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Greetings to another evening of exciting European Cup soccer. 9 games are planned for tonight, featuring three British teams in play. Chelsea face Barcelona in the marquee match of the evening, whilst Newcastle visit Marseille and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway point of the group stage, meaning the rankings is taking form. All six British sides are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts between 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a whiff of volatility about the entire situation. All remains open.

Match Schedule

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

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Blues team. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, won by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage away to the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight victory over City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

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