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Welcome to another evening of exciting Champions League football. Nine fixtures are scheduled for tonight, featuring three British clubs in play. The Blues meet Barça in the key match of the evening, whilst Newcastle visit the French side and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway stage of the group phase, meaning the standings is taking form. All six British clubs are currently in the top 12, but there are only 2 pts between fifth and sixteenth position, thus there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

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

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea lineup. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

The Blues (possible four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, claimed by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle arrived in the south of France fresh from their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “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 available twelve and direct qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

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