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Greetings to another evening of exciting Champions League football. 9 matches are scheduled for tonight, with three British clubs in play. The Blues meet Barça in the key fixture of the evening, whilst Newcastle travel to Marseille and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway stage of the league stage, so the standings is starting to take shape. All six British teams are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts separating fifth and 16th position, so there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are tonight’s fixtures, each kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea side. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

Chelsea (possible four-three-three) Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

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

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, won by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League victory over Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road victory since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a possible 12 and automatic progression to the last 16 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 MBM equivalent of Maradona is handling for that.