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Greetings to another evening of thrilling Champions League football. 9 games are set for this evening, including three English clubs in action. The Blues take on Barcelona in the key match of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the halfway stage of the group stage, meaning the standings is starting to take shape. All six English sides are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only two points separating fifth and 16th position, so there's a sense of volatility about the whole thing. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

These are tonight’s games, each starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues lineup. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

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

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

Barcelona (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

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

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight win against Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 pts from a available twelve 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 MBM version of Maradona is on duty for that.