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Greetings to a fresh night of thrilling Champions League football. Nine matches are planned for tonight, featuring 3 British teams in play. The Blues take on Barça in the standout fixture of the night, while Newcastle travel to the French side and City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the midway stage of the league phase, meaning the table is starting to take shape. Each of the six English sides are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only two points between fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a hint of volatility about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

Here are this evening's matches, all kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

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

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

The Blues (possible 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

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

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

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight win over Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a available 12 and automatic progression to the knockout phase 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. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Diego Maradona is handling for that.