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Greetings to another night of exciting European Cup football. 9 games are scheduled for this evening, featuring three English teams in play. The Blues take on Barcelona in the standout fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies visit Marseille and City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the midway point of the league stage, meaning the rankings is beginning to form. All six English teams are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 pts separating fifth and 16th place, so there's a whiff of uncertainty about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

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

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues side. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barça; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, claimed by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight victory over City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 pts from a possible 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is on duty for that.