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Greetings to a fresh night of electrifying Champions League soccer. 9 fixtures are planned for tonight, featuring 3 English clubs in play. Chelsea take on Barça in the key fixture of the evening, while The Magpies travel to Marseille and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway stage of the group phase, so the table is beginning to form. Each of the six English clubs are currently in the top 12, however there are only two pts separating fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the whole thing. All remains open.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are this evening's matches, all kicking off 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
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Team News

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues lineup. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

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

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, won by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil lead at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle traveled to the French south coming off their restorative two-one home Premier League win against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away win since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are sixth in the European table, with 9 points from a possible twelve and automatic qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the MBM version of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.