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Welcome to another night of exciting Champions League soccer. Nine games are planned for tonight, with 3 British clubs in action. Chelsea face Barcelona in the key fixture of the evening, while The Magpies visit the French side and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the midway stage of the league phase, meaning the table is taking form. All six British sides are currently in the top 12, however there are only 2 pts separating fifth and 16th place, thus there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

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

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Blues side. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

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

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barcelona (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies traveled to the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League win over City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine pts from a available twelve and direct 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. Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is handling for that.