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Welcome to another evening of exciting Champions League football. Nine matches are set for this evening, with 3 English teams in play. The Blues meet Barça in the marquee match of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to the French side and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway stage of the league stage, so the standings is beginning to form. All six British teams are presently in the top 12, but there are only 2 pts between fifth and 16th position, thus there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

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

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea team. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Rashford is on the bench.

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

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

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

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, won by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

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

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle traveled to the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League victory over Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a possible twelve and automatic progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the MBM version of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.