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Welcome to another evening of thrilling Champions League soccer. 9 fixtures are planned for this evening, including three British teams in action. Chelsea meet Barça in the marquee match of the night, whilst The Magpies visit Marseille and City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway stage of the group stage, so the table is taking form. All six English teams are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts between fifth and 16th place, thus there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

Here are this evening's matches, all kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea lineup. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

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

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, won by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight victory against City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's 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 coach, whose team are sixth in the European table, with nine pts from a available 12 and direct progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

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