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Greetings to another night of exciting Champions League football. Nine games are scheduled for tonight, with three English teams in play. The Blues take on Barcelona in the standout fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway point of the group phase, so the rankings is starting to take shape. All six British clubs are presently in the top 12, however there are only 2 pts between fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a whiff of volatility about the whole thing. All remains open.

Match Schedule

Here are this evening's games, all kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Blues lineup. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

The Blues (possible four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

Barcelona (probable 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage away to the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle arrived in the south of France coming off their restorative two-one home Premier League victory over City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital 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 coach, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine points from a available twelve and automatic progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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