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Welcome to another night of thrilling European Cup soccer. 9 games are scheduled for this evening, with 3 British clubs in action. Chelsea meet Barça in the standout fixture of the night, while The Magpies visit the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway stage of the group stage, meaning the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six English sides are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts separating 5th and 16th place, so there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open.

Match Schedule

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

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (5.45pm)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (5.45pm)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• 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, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

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

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

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

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

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight win over City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 pts from a possible twelve and direct qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Maradona is handling for that.