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Greetings to a fresh evening of exciting Champions League football. Nine games are scheduled for tonight, including 3 English teams in play. The Blues take on Barça in the key fixture of the evening, while The Magpies visit the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the halfway point of the league phase, meaning the standings is beginning to form. Each of the six English teams are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts separating fifth and sixteenth place, so there's a sense of volatility about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

These are this evening's fixtures, each starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues side. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

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

Barcelona (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, won by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle traveled to the French south coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight win over Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road win since early 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 European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the European table, with 9 points from a possible 12 and automatic qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

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