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Greetings to a fresh evening of electrifying Champions League soccer. Nine games are set for tonight, featuring 3 English teams in action. The Blues meet Barça in the marquee match of the night, while The Magpies travel to Marseille and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the midway stage of the league stage, meaning the rankings is taking form. All six English 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 entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

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

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (5.45pm)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (5.45pm)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Team News

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues lineup. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

Chelsea (possible four-three-three) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute strike has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the French south fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight victory over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, 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 distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine points from a available twelve and automatic progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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