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Greetings to another night of exciting Champions League football. 9 matches are set for tonight, with 3 British clubs in play. Chelsea take on Barça in the standout fixture of the evening, while The Magpies visit Marseille and City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the midway stage of the league stage, so the standings is starting to take shape. Each of the six English sides are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts separating 5th and sixteenth position, so there's a whiff of volatility about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are this evening's fixtures, all kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

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

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Rashford is on the bench.

Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barcelona (probable 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute goal has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle arrived in the south of France fresh from their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight win against City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away victory since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine points from a available twelve and direct progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

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