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Greetings to a fresh evening of thrilling Champions League football. Nine matches are planned for tonight, with 3 British clubs in play. The Blues take on Barça in the key match of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway point of the group phase, meaning the table is taking form. Each of the six British teams are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only two points separating 5th and 16th place, so there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are tonight’s fixtures, each starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Team News

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea lineup. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

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

Barcelona (probable 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute strike has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies traveled to the south of France fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight win against Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a available twelve and automatic progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is handling for that.