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Greetings to a fresh evening of thrilling Champions League football. 9 fixtures are set for this evening, including three English teams in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the key match of the night, while Newcastle visit the French side and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the midway point of the group stage, so the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six British teams are presently in the top 12, but there are only two pts between 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a sense of uncertainty about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

Here are tonight’s games, all kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

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

Barcelona (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, claimed by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle traveled to the French south fresh from their restorative 2-1 home Premier League victory over City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible 12 and direct progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “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 version of Maradona is handling for that.