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Greetings to another evening of thrilling Champions League soccer. Nine fixtures are planned for tonight, with 3 English teams in action. The Blues meet Barça in the marquee fixture of the evening, whilst Newcastle visit the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway point of the league phase, so the table is starting to take shape. All six British teams are currently in the top 12, but there are only 2 pts separating 5th and sixteenth position, so there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are this evening's games, each starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea side. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

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

Barça (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, claimed by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies traveled to the south of France fresh from their restorative two-one home Premier League victory against City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the European table, with 9 points from a available 12 and direct qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure 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.