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Greetings to another evening of electrifying Champions League football. Nine fixtures are planned for this evening, including three British teams in play. Chelsea face Barça in the standout fixture of the night, while Newcastle visit the French side and City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway point of the league phase, so the rankings is starting to take shape. Each of the six British clubs are currently in the top 12, however there are only 2 points separating fifth and 16th position, so there's a hint of volatility about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are tonight’s games, each kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (17:45)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (17:45)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

The Blues (probable four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an rising superstar 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

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle arrived in the south of France fresh from their restorative 2-1 home Premier League victory over City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a possible twelve and automatic progression to the last 16 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 minute-by-minute version of Maradona is handling for that.