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Welcome to a fresh night of electrifying Champions League football. Nine games are planned for this evening, with 3 British clubs in action. Chelsea face Barcelona in the standout match of the evening, while The Magpies visit Marseille and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway point of the group stage, so the standings is starting to take shape. All six English sides are presently in the top 12, but there are only two points separating fifth and 16th place, thus there's a sense of volatility about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are tonight’s games, all starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (5.45pm)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (5.45pm)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Blues side. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is on the bench.

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

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

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

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

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though The Magpies arrived in the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight victory against City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the European table, with nine pts from a possible 12 and automatic qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

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