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Welcome to a fresh night of thrilling Champions League soccer. Nine fixtures are planned for this evening, with 3 British clubs in action. The Blues take on Barça in the marquee match of the night, while Newcastle travel to Marseille and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the midway stage of the league phase, so the standings is beginning to form. All six British clubs are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only two pts separating 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Match Schedule

Here are this evening's matches, 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)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Squad Updates

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

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

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

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barcelona (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

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

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute goal has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle arrived in the French south coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight win against City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away win since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the European table, with nine points from a possible twelve and direct progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

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