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Greetings to another night of exciting Champions League football. 9 games are scheduled for tonight, including three British clubs in play. Chelsea meet Barça in the marquee fixture of the night, while Newcastle travel to the French side and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway stage of the league stage, so the standings is beginning to form. All six British sides are currently in the top 12, but there are only two pts separating fifth and sixteenth position, so there's a whiff of volatility about the entire situation. All remains open.

Match Schedule

These are this evening's games, all kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Team News

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

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

The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

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

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, won by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League win against City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a available 12 and automatic qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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