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Greetings to another night of thrilling Champions League football. 9 matches are planned for this evening, including three English clubs in action. The Blues meet Barça in the key fixture of the evening, whilst Newcastle visit the French side and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the midway stage of the group phase, so the table is starting to take shape. All six British sides are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only two points separating 5th and 16th place, so there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

These are tonight’s fixtures, each kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

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

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

Subs: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barcelona (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies arrived in the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win against Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road victory since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a available 12 and automatic progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

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