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Greetings to a fresh night of exciting European Cup football. Nine games are set for tonight, with 3 British teams in play. The Blues take on Barça in the key fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies visit the French side and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway point of the group stage, meaning the table is taking form. Each of the six English teams are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only two points between fifth and sixteenth place, so there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

Here are this evening's games, each starting at 8pm except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea side. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle arrived in the French south coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight win against City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine pts from a available twelve and automatic progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Maradona is on duty for that.