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Greetings to another night of electrifying Champions League football. 9 matches are scheduled for tonight, featuring 3 British teams in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the marquee fixture of the evening, while Newcastle travel to the French side and City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway point of the league stage, meaning the standings is beginning to form. All six English clubs are presently in the top 12, however there are only 2 points separating fifth and sixteenth position, so there's a sense of volatility about the whole thing. All remains open.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are tonight’s games, all kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (5.45pm)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (17:45)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Team News

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

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

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

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

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the French south coming off their restorative two-one home English top-flight win over City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available 12 and direct qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is handling for that.