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Greetings to another night of exciting Champions League soccer. 9 fixtures are set for this evening, with three English clubs in action. The Blues face Barça in the standout match of the night, while The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the halfway stage of the group stage, meaning the standings is beginning to form. All six English sides are currently in the top 12, however there are only two pts between 5th and sixteenth position, so there's a hint of volatility about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Match Schedule

Here are tonight’s fixtures, each kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Team News

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea team. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

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

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Subs: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, claimed by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle arrived in the French south coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight win against Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road win since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available 12 and direct qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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