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Welcome to a fresh night of electrifying Champions League soccer. 9 games are planned for tonight, featuring 3 British teams in action. The Blues take on Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, while The Magpies visit Marseille and City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway stage of the group phase, meaning the rankings is taking form. Each of the six British teams are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts separating fifth and 16th position, so there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

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

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

Team News

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea lineup. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.

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

Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barça (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight victory against City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the European table, with 9 pts from a possible 12 and direct progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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