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Greetings to a fresh night of exciting Champions League soccer. Nine fixtures are planned for this evening, including 3 English clubs in action. Chelsea meet Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, while The Magpies visit Marseille and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway point of the league phase, meaning the rankings is starting to take shape. Each of the six English sides are presently in the top 12, however there are only 2 pts separating fifth and 16th place, so there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

These are tonight’s fixtures, all kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea lineup. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

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

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, claimed by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative two-one home Premier League victory against City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 pts from a possible twelve and automatic qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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