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Greetings to a fresh evening of thrilling Champions League football. 9 matches are scheduled for this evening, featuring three English teams in play. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the key match of the evening, whilst Newcastle visit Marseille and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the halfway point of the league phase, meaning the table is taking form. All six British teams are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only two points separating fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are tonight’s matches, each kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

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

Team News

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

Yamal starts for Barça; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, claimed by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

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

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies traveled to the south of France fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight win against Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away victory since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the European table, with nine points from a available twelve and direct qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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