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Welcome to another evening of thrilling Champions League football. Nine games are set for this evening, including three British clubs in action. The Blues take on Barça in the marquee fixture of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to Marseille and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the halfway point of the league stage, meaning the standings is taking form. All six British teams are currently in the top 12, but there are only 2 pts between fifth and sixteenth place, so there's a whiff of volatility about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Match Schedule

Here are this evening's matches, each starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Team News

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

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

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

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, won by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League victory against City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 pts from a available 12 and automatic qualification 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 Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.