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Greetings to a fresh evening of thrilling Champions League football. 9 fixtures are scheduled for this evening, with three English teams in play. The Blues take on Barcelona in the standout fixture of the evening, while Newcastle visit Marseille and City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the midway stage of the league phase, so the table is taking form. Each of the six English sides are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 points between 5th and sixteenth place, so there's a sense of uncertainty about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

Here are this evening's games, all starting at 8pm 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
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barça; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies arrived in the French south coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win over City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible 12 and direct progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

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