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Greetings to another evening of exciting Champions League soccer. 9 matches are planned for this evening, featuring 3 British teams in action. The Blues take on Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, whilst The Magpies visit the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway stage of the league phase, so the standings is taking form. All six English teams are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 points between 5th and 16th position, so there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

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

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

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues lineup. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute strike has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies arrived in the south of France coming off their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight victory against City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a available twelve and automatic 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. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is handling for that.