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Welcome to a fresh night of electrifying Champions League soccer. Nine matches are planned for tonight, featuring 3 British clubs in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the key fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies visit Marseille and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway stage of the group stage, meaning the standings is starting to take shape. All six British teams are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 points separating fifth and sixteenth position, so there's a sense of volatility about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are tonight’s matches, all starting at 8pm unless stated:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (17:45)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (17:45)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• 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, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea side. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

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

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

Barça (possible four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, won by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies arrived in the French south fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight victory over City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available twelve and direct 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. Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is on duty for that.