🔗 Share this article

Welcome to a fresh night of electrifying Champions League soccer. 9 games are set for tonight, with 3 British teams in action. Chelsea meet Barça in the marquee fixture of the night, whilst The Magpies visit the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway stage of the group stage, so the table is taking form. Each of the six English teams are currently in the top 12, however there are only 2 points separating fifth and sixteenth position, thus there's a hint of volatility about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are this evening's games, all starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

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

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

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

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil lead away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle arrived in the French south fresh from their restorative two-one home Premier League victory over City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie 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 side are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a available twelve and direct qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is handling for that.