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Greetings to a fresh evening of electrifying European Cup football. 9 games are planned for tonight, including three British teams in action. The Blues take on Barça in the standout match of the night, while The Magpies visit Marseille and City host Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway point of the group phase, so the standings is beginning to form. All six English teams are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only two pts separating 5th and sixteenth position, so there's a hint of volatility about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

Here are tonight’s games, each starting at 8pm except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea side. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is among the substitutes.

Chelsea (probable four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

Barcelona (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, won by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle arrived in the French south coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight victory over City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the European table, with nine pts from a available 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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