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Greetings to a fresh evening of exciting Champions League football. 9 games are scheduled for this evening, with 3 British clubs in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the marquee match of the evening, whilst Newcastle travel to the French side and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the halfway point of the league phase, so the table is taking form. All six British clubs are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 pts separating 5th and 16th position, so there's a sense of volatility about the entire situation. All remains open.

Match Schedule

These are this evening's fixtures, each starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Squad Updates

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea side. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

Subs: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, won by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute goal has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the French south coming off their restorative 2-1 home Premier League win over City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a available twelve and automatic qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is handling for that.