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Greetings to another night of electrifying European Cup soccer. 9 matches are set for this evening, featuring 3 British clubs in action. Chelsea meet Barcelona in the marquee fixture of the evening, whilst Newcastle travel to the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway stage of the group stage, meaning the standings is beginning to form. Each of the six British sides are presently in the top 12, however there are only 2 pts separating 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

Here are this evening's matches, each kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea lineup. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

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

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight win against City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available twelve and direct progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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