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Greetings to a fresh night of electrifying Champions League football. 9 fixtures are planned for tonight, with 3 English clubs in play. Chelsea meet Barça in the key fixture of the night, while The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the midway stage of the group stage, so the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six British sides are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts separating 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

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

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

Squad Updates

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea side. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

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

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

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

Substitutes: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, won by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle arrived in the French south fresh from their restorative two-one home Premier League win against City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road victory since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a possible twelve and direct progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

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