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Welcome to a fresh evening of exciting Champions League football. Nine matches are planned for this evening, including three British clubs in action. The Blues take on Barcelona in the standout match of the night, while Newcastle travel to Marseille and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the halfway stage of the league phase, so the standings is starting to take shape. All six English sides are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts separating fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. All remains open.

Match Schedule

Here are tonight’s matches, all 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)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is among the substitutes.

Chelsea (probable four-three-three) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle arrived in the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win against City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a possible twelve and automatic qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is handling for that.