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Welcome to another evening of exciting Champions League soccer. Nine matches are planned for this evening, featuring three English teams in play. The Blues take on Barcelona in the key fixture of the evening, whilst Newcastle travel to Marseille and City host Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the midway point of the league stage, meaning the rankings is starting to take shape. Each of the six British teams are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts separating fifth and 16th place, thus there's a sense of volatility about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

These are this evening's matches, all kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

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

Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle traveled to the French south fresh from their restorative 2-1 home Premier League victory over Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible twelve and automatic progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.