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Greetings to another night of exciting Champions League soccer. Nine matches are set for this evening, featuring 3 English clubs in play. The Blues meet Barcelona in the key fixture of the night, whilst The Magpies visit Marseille and City host Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway stage of the league phase, so the rankings is starting to take shape. All six British teams are currently in the top 12, however there are only two pts between fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a whiff of volatility about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Match Schedule

Here are this evening's games, each kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Team News

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

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

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

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

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

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle traveled to the French south coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League victory over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a possible twelve and automatic qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “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.