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Greetings to another night of thrilling Champions League football. Nine games are scheduled for this evening, featuring three English clubs in play. The Blues face Barcelona in the key fixture of the evening, while The Magpies visit the French side and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway point of the group phase, so the standings is starting to take shape. Each of the six British teams are presently in the top 12, however there are only 2 pts separating 5th and 16th position, so there's a sense of uncertainty about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

These are this evening's fixtures, each kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea lineup. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is on the bench.

The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

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

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle arrived in the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League victory against City on Saturday, 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 Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a possible 12 and automatic qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.