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Welcome to a fresh night of electrifying Champions League soccer. Nine matches are scheduled for tonight, with three British clubs in play. Chelsea face Barcelona in the key fixture of the night, while Newcastle travel to the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway point of the league phase, meaning the table is beginning to form. Each of the six British teams are presently in the top 12, but there are only two pts between fifth and sixteenth position, thus there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

Here are this evening's fixtures, each starting at 8pm except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

Chelsea (probable four-three-three) Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, won by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the European table, with 9 pts from a available 12 and direct progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

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