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Welcome to another evening of electrifying Champions League soccer. Nine matches are scheduled for this evening, including 3 British clubs in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the marquee match of the night, while Newcastle visit Marseille and City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the midway point of the league phase, meaning the standings is beginning to form. All six British sides are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 pts between 5th and 16th position, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

These are this evening's matches, all starting at 8pm except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues side. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

The Blues (possible four-three-three) Sanchez; James, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, won by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute strike has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle arrived in the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight win against City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away victory since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available 12 and direct progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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