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Welcome to a fresh night of exciting Champions League football. Nine fixtures are planned for this evening, featuring 3 British clubs in play. The Blues take on Barça in the marquee match of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to Marseille and City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway stage of the league stage, meaning the standings is taking form. All six British clubs are currently in the top 12, but there are only two points separating fifth and 16th position, so there's a whiff of uncertainty about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are tonight’s fixtures, all starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

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

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

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

Barcelona (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, won by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies traveled to the French south coming off their restorative two-one home English top-flight win against City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a available twelve and automatic qualification to the last 16 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 Diego Maradona is on duty for that.