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Welcome to another night of electrifying Champions League soccer. 9 fixtures are set for this evening, including three English clubs in action. The Blues take on Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to Marseille and City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway stage of the league stage, so the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six British clubs are presently in the top 12, however there are only two pts between fifth and 16th position, thus there's a hint of volatility about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

Here are tonight’s fixtures, all starting at 8pm except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

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

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

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

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies arrived in the French south coming off their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight win against City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a available 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.