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Welcome to a fresh evening of exciting Champions League soccer. 9 matches are planned for this evening, featuring 3 British clubs in action. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the marquee match of the night, while The Magpies travel to Marseille and City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway point of the group stage, meaning the table is beginning to form. Each of the six English clubs are presently in the top 12, but there are only 2 pts between fifth and 16th place, thus there's a hint of uncertainty about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

These are this evening's matches, each starting 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
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues team. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

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

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

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

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

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

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though The Magpies arrived in the French south coming off their restorative 2-1 home Premier League victory against City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine points from a available 12 and automatic progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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