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Welcome to a fresh evening of electrifying Champions League football. Nine fixtures are set for this evening, featuring 3 English clubs in action. Chelsea take on Barça in the standout match of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to Marseille and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway stage of the group phase, meaning the table is taking form. Each of the six English teams are presently in the top 12, however there are only 2 points separating 5th and sixteenth position, thus there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

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

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Blues team. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

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

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

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

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

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 one-nil advantage at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle traveled to the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight victory over City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a possible 12 and direct progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Maradona is handling for that.