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Greetings to another evening of electrifying Champions League football. 9 fixtures are scheduled for this evening, with 3 British teams in action. The Blues take on Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, while Newcastle visit Marseille and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway point of the league phase, meaning the table is starting to take shape. Each of the six British sides are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only two points between 5th and 16th place, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

Here are tonight’s matches, all kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Squad Updates

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues side. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

The Blues (possible 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

Barcelona (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, won by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies traveled to the south of France fresh from their restorative two-one home Premier League win against City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a possible 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is handling for that.