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Welcome to a fresh evening of thrilling Champions League football. Nine fixtures are set for tonight, with three British clubs in action. The Blues meet Barça in the key fixture of the night, while Newcastle travel to Marseille and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway point of the league phase, so the standings is starting to take shape. All six English clubs are presently in the top 12, but there are only two pts between fifth and 16th position, thus there's a sense of uncertainty about the whole thing. All remains open.

Match Schedule

Here are tonight’s games, each kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea side. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

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

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

Substitutes: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, claimed by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. 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 6th-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle traveled to the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League victory over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road victory since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with nine pts from a available 12 and automatic progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.