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Greetings to another night of exciting Champions League football. Nine fixtures are planned for tonight, with three English teams in play. Chelsea take on Barça in the key match of the evening, whilst Newcastle visit Marseille and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway stage of the league phase, meaning the standings is starting to take shape. All six British teams are presently in the top 12, but there are only two points between 5th and 16th place, so there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

Here are tonight’s fixtures, each starting at 8pm unless stated:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea side. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

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

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil lead at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle traveled to the south of France fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight victory over Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road victory since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible 12 and automatic progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.