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Welcome to a fresh night of thrilling Champions League football. 9 matches are planned for this evening, with three English clubs in play. Chelsea take on Barça in the key fixture of the evening, whilst Newcastle visit the French side and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway point of the group phase, so the standings is beginning to form. Each of the six English clubs are currently in the top 12, however there are only 2 points separating fifth and 16th place, so there's a hint of volatility about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

These are tonight’s matches, each kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

Yamal starts for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

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

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

Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, won by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil lead at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle arrived in the French south coming off their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight win against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine points from a available 12 and direct qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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