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Greetings to a fresh night of electrifying Champions League football. Nine games are planned for tonight, featuring three British clubs in play. The Blues face Barcelona in the marquee match of the evening, while The Magpies visit the French side and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway point of the league phase, so the rankings is starting to take shape. All six English teams are currently in the top 12, however there are only two points separating 5th and sixteenth position, so there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. All remains open.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are tonight’s matches, all kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues side. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.

Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the French south coming off their restorative two-one home Premier League victory over City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine points from a possible 12 and direct qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the MBM equivalent of Diego Maradona is handling for that.