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Greetings to another evening of electrifying Champions League soccer. Nine fixtures are scheduled for tonight, featuring 3 British teams in play. Chelsea face Barça in the standout match of the evening, while The Magpies travel to the French side and City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the halfway stage of the group stage, meaning the standings is beginning to form. All six English sides are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts between fifth and 16th place, thus there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open.

Match Schedule

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

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (5.45pm)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (17:45)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea side. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

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

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

Substitutes: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative two-one home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with 9 pts from a possible 12 and direct progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

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