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Greetings to a fresh evening of exciting Champions League football. Nine fixtures are set for this evening, including three British clubs in action. The Blues meet Barça in the key fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies visit the French side and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway stage of the group phase, meaning the table is taking form. Each of the six English sides are presently in the top 12, however there are only 2 pts between 5th and 16th position, so there's a hint of uncertainty about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

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

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

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

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

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

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, won by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies traveled to the south of France fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight win over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a possible twelve and automatic qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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