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Greetings to a fresh night of thrilling Champions League football. Nine fixtures are scheduled for this evening, featuring 3 English clubs in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to Marseille and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the midway point of the group phase, meaning the rankings is taking form. All six English sides are currently in the top 12, however there are only two points between fifth and 16th place, thus there's a sense of uncertainty about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

These are this evening's fixtures, each kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues lineup. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

The Blues (probable four-three-three) Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barcelona (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, claimed by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle traveled to the French south fresh from their restorative two-one home Premier League win against City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a available twelve and automatic progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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