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Welcome to a fresh night of thrilling Champions League football. Nine fixtures are scheduled for this evening, including 3 British teams in action. The Blues meet Barcelona in the standout match of the night, while The Magpies travel to Marseille and City host Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the midway point of the group phase, meaning the rankings is starting to take shape. All six English clubs are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 points between 5th and 16th position, thus there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. All remains open.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are tonight’s games, all kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

The Blues (possible 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

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

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

Subs: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, won by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south coming off their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight win over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are sixth in the European table, with nine pts from a available 12 and direct progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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