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Welcome to another evening of electrifying Champions League football. Nine fixtures are planned for tonight, with 3 English clubs in play. Chelsea face Barça in the key fixture of the evening, while Newcastle travel to the French side and City host Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the midway point of the league stage, so the table is taking form. All six British clubs are presently in the top 12, however there are only 2 points between fifth and 16th position, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

Here are tonight’s fixtures, all kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (5.45pm)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (17:45)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Squad Updates

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues team. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

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

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

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

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an emerging star 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 during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil lead at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win against City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the European table, with nine pts from a possible 12 and direct 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 minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.