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Greetings to a fresh night of electrifying Champions League football. Nine matches are set for tonight, with three English teams in action. Chelsea take on Barça in the standout match of the evening, while The Magpies visit the French side and City host Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the midway point of the league stage, so the table is starting to take shape. All six British teams are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 pts separating 5th and 16th position, so there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. All remains open.

Match Schedule

These are tonight’s matches, all starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (5.45pm)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (17:45)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Squad Updates

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

Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.

Chelsea (probable four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, claimed by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute strike has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League victory over City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine pts from a available twelve 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. Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Diego Maradona is handling for that.