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Greetings to another evening of thrilling Champions League soccer. Nine fixtures are set for tonight, including three British teams in play. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the key match of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to the French side and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway stage of the group stage, meaning the rankings is taking form. All six English sides are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 points separating fifth and 16th place, thus there's a whiff of volatility about the entire situation. All remains open.

Match Schedule

Here are tonight’s matches, each kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (17:45)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (17:45)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• 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, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Rashford is on the bench.

Chelsea (possible four-three-three) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barcelona (possible four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, claimed by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle arrived in the south of France coming off their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight win over City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available 12 and direct 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 version of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.