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Welcome to a fresh night of exciting Champions League football. Nine matches are scheduled for this evening, including three British teams in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the key match of the night, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the halfway stage of the group stage, meaning the standings is beginning to form. Each of the six English clubs are presently in the top 12, but there are only two points between fifth and sixteenth place, so there's a sense of uncertainty about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

These are tonight’s matches, each starting at 8pm except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

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

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

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

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle traveled to the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight win over City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible twelve and automatic progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.