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Greetings to a fresh night of exciting Champions League soccer. Nine fixtures are planned for this evening, including three British clubs in play. Chelsea meet Barça in the key fixture of the evening, while The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway point of the league phase, meaning the rankings is starting to take shape. Each of the six English teams are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts between 5th and 16th position, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

These are this evening's matches, each kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Squad Updates

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues side. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

Chelsea (probable four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle traveled to the French south coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League victory over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine points from a available twelve and automatic progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is handling for that.