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Greetings to another night of electrifying Champions League football. 9 matches are set for this evening, including 3 English teams in play. Chelsea meet Barça in the standout match of the night, while Newcastle visit Marseille and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway stage of the group phase, so the standings is starting to take shape. Each of the six British clubs are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only two points between fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are tonight’s fixtures, each kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, won by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen 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 two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight win against Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road win since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a possible twelve and direct qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is handling for that.