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Greetings to a fresh evening of exciting Champions League soccer. Nine games are set for tonight, featuring 3 British clubs in play. Chelsea meet Barça in the standout fixture of the evening, whilst Newcastle visit the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the midway point of the group stage, so the rankings is starting to take shape. All six English teams are currently in the top 12, but there are only two points separating 5th and 16th position, so there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

Here are tonight’s games, each kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (17:45)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (17:45)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea side. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

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

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle 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 victory since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

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

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