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Welcome to a fresh night of electrifying Champions League soccer. Nine matches are scheduled for this evening, featuring 3 British clubs in play. The Blues take on Barça in the marquee fixture of the night, whilst Newcastle visit Marseille and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the midway point of the league phase, so the table is taking form. All six British clubs are currently in the top 12, but there are only two points separating fifth and sixteenth place, so there's a whiff of volatility about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

Here are this evening's fixtures, all kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea lineup. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

Chelsea (probable four-three-three) Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barcelona (probable 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter 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 not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle traveled to the French south fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight victory over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine points 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 Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the MBM version of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.