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Greetings to a fresh evening of electrifying Champions League football. 9 fixtures are scheduled for this evening, including 3 British teams in action. Chelsea meet Barcelona in the marquee fixture of the evening, while Newcastle travel to Marseille and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway point of the league phase, so the rankings is starting to take shape. All six British teams are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts between fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a hint of volatility about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

These are tonight’s matches, each starting at 8pm except where noted:

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

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues side. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

The Blues (possible 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barcelona (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute strike has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies arrived in the south of France fresh from their restorative 2-1 home Premier League win against Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

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