🔗 Share this article Champions League Fixtures Tonight: Manchester City v Bayer Leverkusen & Additional Games Greetings to a fresh night of electrifying European Cup football. Nine fixtures are planned for tonight, with three British clubs in action. Chelsea meet Barça in the marquee match of the night, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen. Group Rankings We're at the midway stage of the league stage, meaning the standings is starting to take shape. All six British clubs are currently in the top 12, however there are only 2 pts separating fifth and 16th position, so there's a whiff of volatility about the whole thing. All remains open. This Evening's Games Here are tonight’s games, all starting at 8pm unless stated: Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (5.45pm) Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (5.45pm) Bodo/Glimt v Juventus Chelsea v Barcelona Dortmund v Villarreal Man City v Leverkusen Marseille v Newcastle Napoli v Qarabag Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague Team News Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues lineup. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap. Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Rashford is on the bench. Chelsea (possible four-three-three) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho. Substitutes: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte. Barça (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski. Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji. Official Vincic (Slovenia). Historical Context The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history. Early Match Updates Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil lead away to Ajax. Marseille v Newcastle Preview Even though Newcastle arrived in the south of France fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight victory over Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise. Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the European table, with nine points from a available 12 and automatic progression 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. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Diego Maradona is handling for that.