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Greetings to another evening of exciting Champions League soccer. 9 games are planned for this evening, including three British teams in action. The Blues meet Barcelona in the marquee fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to Marseille and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the halfway point of the group phase, so the standings is beginning to form. All six British clubs are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only two points between fifth and sixteenth position, so there's a sense of volatility about the entire situation. All remains open.

Match Schedule

These are this evening's fixtures, each kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

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

Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.

The Blues (probable four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

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

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the French south coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight win against Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine points from a possible twelve and automatic progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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