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Welcome to another evening of thrilling Champions League football. 9 matches are scheduled for this evening, including three British clubs in play. Chelsea face Barcelona in the marquee match of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to the French side and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the midway stage of the league stage, meaning the standings is taking form. All six English teams are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only two points separating fifth and 16th position, so there's a whiff of volatility about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

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

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (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
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

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

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

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

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

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, claimed by an rising 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

Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though The Magpies traveled to the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League win against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road victory since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the European table, with 9 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 version of Maradona is on duty for that.