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Welcome to another evening of exciting Champions League football. Nine matches are scheduled for this evening, with 3 English clubs in play. Chelsea meet Barça in the standout match of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to Marseille and City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway point of the league phase, so the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six English clubs are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts separating fifth and sixteenth position, thus there's a hint of volatility about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

These are tonight’s games, all kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues lineup. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.

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

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

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen 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. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle traveled to the French south coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight victory over City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.