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Greetings to another night of thrilling Champions League football. Nine games are scheduled for tonight, featuring three British teams in play. Chelsea meet Barcelona in the key fixture of the night, whilst Newcastle visit the French side and City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the midway point of the group phase, meaning the rankings is taking form. Each of the six English teams are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only two points separating fifth and 16th position, thus there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. All remains open.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are tonight’s games, all kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea lineup. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.

Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute strike has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win over Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and 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.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a available 12 and automatic progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

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