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Welcome to another night of electrifying Champions League football. Nine games are scheduled for this evening, with 3 English teams in action. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the standout match of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway point of the league stage, so the rankings is taking form. Each of the six English teams are presently in the top 12, but there are only two pts separating 5th and 16th place, so there's a sense of volatility about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are tonight’s games, all starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (5.45pm)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (17:45)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Team News

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barcelona (probable 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

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

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle arrived in the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win over Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since the start of April came in Brussels 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 coach, whose side are sixth in the European table, with nine points from a possible 12 and automatic qualification 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 MBM version of Diego Maradona is handling for that.