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Greetings to another evening of exciting Champions League football. 9 matches are set for tonight, featuring 3 English teams in action. Chelsea take on Barça in the standout match of the night, while The Magpies travel to the French side and City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway stage of the group phase, so the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six British teams are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only two pts separating fifth and 16th place, thus there's a sense of volatility about the entire situation. All remains open.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are this evening's matches, each kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (17:45)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (5.45pm)
• 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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues side. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

Chelsea (possible four-three-three) Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

Subs: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight win against City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a possible 12 and direct qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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