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Greetings to a fresh evening of exciting European Cup soccer. Nine fixtures are scheduled for tonight, with 3 English clubs in play. The Blues take on Barcelona in the standout fixture of the evening, while Newcastle visit Marseille and City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway stage of the group stage, meaning the rankings is taking form. All six English clubs are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts separating 5th and 16th place, so there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

These are tonight’s games, each kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues lineup. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

The Blues (possible four-three-three) Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Subs: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, claimed 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.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead away to 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 victory against City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the European table, with 9 pts from a available twelve and direct qualification 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 minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.