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Welcome to another night of thrilling Champions League soccer. Nine games are set for tonight, including 3 English clubs in action. Chelsea take on Barça in the standout fixture of the evening, while Newcastle visit the French side and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway stage of the league stage, so the table is taking form. Each of the six English clubs are presently in the top 12, however there are only 2 pts between fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a whiff of volatility about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Match Schedule

Here are this evening's matches, all kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

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

Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies arrived in the French south fresh from their restorative 2-1 home Premier League win against Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away victory since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a available 12 and direct qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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