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Welcome to another evening of electrifying Champions League football. 9 games are scheduled for this evening, with 3 English teams in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to Marseille and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the halfway point of the league stage, so the rankings is taking form. Each of the six English teams are presently in the top 12, but there are only 2 points between fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

Here are tonight’s fixtures, each starting at 8pm unless stated:

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

Team News

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

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

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barcelona (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, won by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute goal has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their restorative 2-1 home Premier League victory over Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a possible twelve and automatic qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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