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Greetings to another night of electrifying Champions League soccer. Nine matches are planned for tonight, featuring 3 English teams in play. The Blues meet Barcelona in the key match of the evening, whilst Newcastle travel to Marseille and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the midway stage of the league stage, so the standings is taking form. All six British sides are presently in the top 12, however there are only 2 pts separating 5th and sixteenth position, thus there's a sense of uncertainty about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

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

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

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

The Blues (probable four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, won by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Just one 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 the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies traveled to the French south coming off their restorative 2-1 home Premier League win over City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are sixth in the European table, with nine points from a possible twelve and automatic progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.