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Greetings to a fresh night of thrilling Champions League football. 9 matches are planned for this evening, including 3 English clubs in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the standout match of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway point of the league phase, so the standings is taking form. Each of the six British sides are currently in the top 12, but there are only 2 pts between 5th and sixteenth position, so there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

Here are this evening's games, each starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea team. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal starts for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

Chelsea (possible four-three-three) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barcelona (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an emerging superstar 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. Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle arrived in the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine pts from a possible 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.