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Greetings to another night of exciting Champions League football. Nine fixtures are planned for this evening, including 3 British teams in action. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the standout fixture of the evening, while Newcastle travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway point of the group stage, so the standings is taking form. All six English sides are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts separating fifth and sixteenth position, thus there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

Here are tonight’s matches, each kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea lineup. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.

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

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

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

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, won by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though The Magpies traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine points from a possible twelve and automatic qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is handling for that.