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Greetings to another evening of exciting Champions League soccer. 9 fixtures are scheduled for this evening, featuring three British teams in action. Chelsea face Barcelona in the marquee match of the night, whilst Newcastle visit the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway stage of the league phase, so the rankings is starting to take shape. All six British teams are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts between fifth and sixteenth place, so there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open.

Match Schedule

Here are tonight’s matches, each starting at 8pm unless stated:

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea lineup. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

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

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

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

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

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

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle arrived in the French south coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win over City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the European table, with nine pts from a possible twelve and automatic qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

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