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Greetings to another night of thrilling Champions League soccer. 9 matches are set for this evening, including three British clubs in action. Chelsea face Barça in the standout fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to Marseille and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the midway point of the group stage, meaning the standings is taking form. Each of the six English clubs are presently in the top 12, but there are only 2 pts between 5th and sixteenth position, so there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

Here are tonight’s matches, all starting at 8pm unless stated:

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

Team News

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea side. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.

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

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

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

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

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil lead away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle arrived in the French south fresh from their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road victory since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

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 coach, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine points from a available 12 and automatic progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

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