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Welcome to a fresh evening of thrilling Champions League football. 9 fixtures are planned for this evening, featuring three British clubs in action. Chelsea face Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and City host Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway point of the league stage, meaning the table is starting to take shape. All six British sides are currently in the top 12, but there are only two pts between fifth and sixteenth position, thus there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

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

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues team. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

Chelsea (probable four-three-three) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, won by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute strike has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the south of France fresh from their restorative two-one home Premier League win over Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a possible 12 and automatic progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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