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Welcome to a fresh evening of thrilling Champions League football. 9 games are set for this evening, including 3 English teams in play. The Blues take on Barcelona in the key match of the evening, while The Magpies travel to Marseille and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway point of the league stage, so the standings is taking form. All six English teams are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only two points separating fifth and 16th position, so there's a hint of uncertainty about the entire situation. All remains open.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are this evening's games, each kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues side. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barça; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

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

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

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

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, claimed by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage away to the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle traveled to the French south coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League victory over Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine points from a available 12 and direct qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

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