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Welcome to another evening of exciting Champions League football. Nine games are scheduled for tonight, including 3 British clubs in play. The Blues face Barcelona in the key fixture of the night, whilst The Magpies visit Marseille and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway point of the league stage, meaning the table is starting to take shape. All six English sides are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 pts separating fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a sense of volatility about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Match Schedule

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

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (17:45)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (5.45pm)
• 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, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea lineup. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

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

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

Barcelona (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, won by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute goal has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle arrived in the French south fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight victory over City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 pts from a possible twelve and direct progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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