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Welcome to a fresh night of exciting European Cup football. Nine games are scheduled for this evening, with 3 English clubs in play. Chelsea face Barça in the standout match of the evening, whilst The Magpies visit the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway stage of the league stage, so the standings is starting to take shape. All six British sides are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only two points between fifth and sixteenth place, so there's a hint of uncertainty about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

These are tonight’s games, each starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea side. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Sanchez; James, Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, claimed by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

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

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle arrived in the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win over City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible twelve and automatic progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.