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Greetings to a fresh night of thrilling Champions League soccer. 9 matches are planned for tonight, with three British clubs in action. The Blues face Barça in the marquee fixture of the evening, while The Magpies travel to the French side and City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway point of the group stage, so the rankings is beginning to form. All six English teams are presently in the top 12, however there are only two pts separating fifth and sixteenth place, so there's a hint of uncertainty about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are tonight’s matches, each starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (5.45pm)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (5.45pm)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Lineup Changes

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

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

Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

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

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the south of France coming off their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight win against City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “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 automatic progression to the last 16 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 handling for that.