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Greetings to a fresh night of thrilling Champions League soccer. Nine fixtures are scheduled for tonight, with three British teams in action. The Blues face Barça in the marquee match of the night, while The Magpies travel to Marseille and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway point of the group phase, meaning the rankings is starting to take shape. Each of the six English clubs are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts between fifth and sixteenth position, thus there's a sense of uncertainty about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

These are this evening's games, all starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (5.45pm)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (17:45)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

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

Subs: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, claimed by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle arrived in the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight victory over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine points from a possible twelve and automatic qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “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 Diego Maradona is on duty for that.