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Welcome to a fresh evening of exciting Champions League soccer. Nine games are scheduled for this evening, with three English teams in action. The Blues take on Barça in the marquee fixture of the evening, while Newcastle travel to the French side and City host Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway point of the group phase, so the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six British teams are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts between 5th and 16th place, thus there's a hint of uncertainty about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are this evening's matches, all kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Team News

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Blues team. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barça (possible four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, claimed by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though The Magpies traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available twelve and direct qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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