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Greetings to a fresh night of exciting Champions League football. Nine fixtures are scheduled for tonight, including three British clubs in play. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, whilst Newcastle visit Marseille and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway point of the league phase, so the rankings is beginning to form. All six British sides are currently in the top 12, however there are only two points between fifth and sixteenth position, so there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

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

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (5.45pm)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (5.45pm)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea lineup. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

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

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

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

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle arrived in the French south fresh from their restorative 2-1 home Premier League win against City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was eager to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a possible twelve and automatic qualification to the knockout phase 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 version of Diego Maradona is handling for that.