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Welcome to a fresh evening of thrilling Champions League football. 9 matches are set for tonight, including 3 British clubs in play. Chelsea meet Barcelona in the marquee match of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and City welcome Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway point of the group phase, meaning the standings is beginning to form. Each of the six English clubs are presently in the top 12, however there are only 2 points separating fifth and 16th position, so there's a whiff of volatility about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

These are tonight’s fixtures, each kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Team News

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues side. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is among the substitutes.

The Blues (possible four-three-three) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies traveled to the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League victory against City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road victory since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available twelve and direct progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.