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Greetings to another evening of exciting Champions League football. 9 fixtures are scheduled for this evening, featuring three British teams in play. The Blues face Barcelona in the marquee fixture of the night, whilst Newcastle visit Marseille and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway stage of the group phase, meaning the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six English clubs are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only two pts separating fifth and 16th position, so there's a hint of uncertainty about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

These are this evening's fixtures, all kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea lineup. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, won by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

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

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative two-one home Premier League victory against City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with 9 pts from a available twelve and direct progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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