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Welcome to a fresh evening of electrifying Champions League football. Nine matches are set for tonight, with three English clubs in action. The Blues take on Barça in the marquee match of the night, while The Magpies visit Marseille and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway stage of the league phase, so the standings is taking form. Each of the six British sides are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only two points separating fifth and 16th position, thus there's a sense of volatility about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

Here are tonight’s matches, each starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues side. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

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

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute goal has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle traveled to the French south coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win against Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, 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 away form issue. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a possible 12 and direct progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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