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Greetings to another evening of electrifying Champions League soccer. 9 games are scheduled for tonight, including three British teams in action. Chelsea face Barça in the key match of the evening, while The Magpies visit Marseille and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the midway point of the league phase, meaning the table is starting to take shape. Each of the six British clubs are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts separating 5th and 16th position, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are this evening's fixtures, all 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
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Squad Updates

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

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

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

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

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their restorative 2-1 home Premier League win against City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road win since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a available twelve and automatic progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is handling for that.