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Welcome to a fresh evening of electrifying Champions League football. Nine fixtures are set for tonight, including 3 British clubs in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, while Newcastle travel to Marseille and City welcome Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway point of the group phase, so the standings is starting to take shape. Each of the six English sides are presently in the top 12, but there are only 2 points separating 5th and 16th position, thus there's a whiff of volatility about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

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

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (17:45)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (17:45)
• 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

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues side. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

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

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

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

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League victory against City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road win 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 travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 pts from a available 12 and automatic progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.