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Welcome to a fresh night of exciting Champions League soccer. 9 games are set for tonight, featuring three British teams in action. The Blues meet Barcelona in the key fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the halfway stage of the league phase, meaning the standings is starting to take shape. All six English sides are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 pts separating fifth and 16th place, so there's a hint of volatility about the whole thing. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

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

• 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
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Squad Updates

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

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

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

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

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

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute strike has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle arrived in the French south coming off their restorative 2-1 home Premier League victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine points from a possible 12 and direct progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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