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Welcome to another evening of thrilling European Cup football. 9 matches are planned for this evening, featuring three British clubs in action. The Blues meet Barcelona in the standout match of the night, while The Magpies travel to the French side and City host Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the halfway stage of the group stage, meaning the table is beginning to form. All six English clubs are currently in the top 12, however there are only 2 points between 5th and sixteenth position, thus there's a sense of uncertainty about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

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

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Blues lineup. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Rashford is on the bench.

The Blues (probable four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

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

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

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead away to the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies arrived in the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight victory against City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with nine points from a available twelve and automatic qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.