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Welcome to a fresh evening of exciting Champions League soccer. Nine fixtures are planned for tonight, featuring 3 English clubs in play. Chelsea meet Barça in the marquee match of the night, while The Magpies visit Marseille and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway stage of the league stage, meaning the table is starting to take shape. Each of the six British clubs are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only two points between 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a sense of volatility about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Match Schedule

Here are tonight’s matches, all kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Blues team. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

The Blues (possible four-three-three) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though The Magpies arrived in the French south coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win over City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a available twelve and direct qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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