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Greetings to another evening of thrilling Champions League football. Nine matches are scheduled for tonight, featuring three English clubs in action. The Blues face Barça in the marquee fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to Marseille and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the midway point of the league stage, meaning the table is starting to take shape. Each of the six British clubs are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 points between fifth and 16th position, so there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

These are this evening's fixtures, each kicking off at 8:00 PM 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
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea lineup. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

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

Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

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

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies arrived in the French south fresh from their restorative two-one home Premier League victory over Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine points from a available twelve and automatic qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is handling for that.