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Welcome to a fresh night of electrifying Champions League football. Nine games are planned for tonight, including 3 British teams in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the marquee fixture of the evening, while The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the midway point of the group phase, so the standings is starting to take shape. Each of the six British sides are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 points separating 5th and sixteenth place, so there's a hint of volatility about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

These are tonight’s fixtures, each starting at 8pm except where noted:

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

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

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, claimed by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute strike has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League win over City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a available twelve and direct progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.