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Greetings to another evening of thrilling European Cup football. Nine fixtures are scheduled for this evening, featuring 3 British teams in action. The Blues face Barça in the standout fixture of the evening, whilst Newcastle travel to the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the midway point of the group phase, meaning the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six English teams are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts between fifth and 16th place, so there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

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

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

Squad Updates

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues lineup. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barcelona (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, won by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. 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 early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative two-one home Premier League victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine points from a possible 12 and direct qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Diego Maradona is handling for that.