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Welcome to a fresh night of exciting Champions League soccer. 9 games are planned for this evening, with three British teams in action. The Blues face Barça in the marquee fixture of the night, while Newcastle travel to the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway stage of the group stage, meaning the rankings is starting to take shape. All six British sides are presently in the top 12, but there are only two points separating fifth and 16th place, thus there's a hint of uncertainty about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

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

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

Team News

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

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

The Blues (probable four-three-three) Sanchez; James, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Subs: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle arrived in the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League victory against City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the European table, with nine pts from a possible twelve and automatic qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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