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Greetings to a fresh evening of thrilling Champions League football. 9 matches are set for tonight, with 3 British teams in play. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the key fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies visit the French side and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the halfway point of the league phase, meaning the standings is starting to take shape. All six English sides are currently in the top 12, but there are only two pts between fifth and 16th position, thus there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. All remains open.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are this evening's matches, each kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea lineup. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.

The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barcelona (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, won by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

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

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a available twelve and direct qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.