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Greetings to another night of electrifying Champions League soccer. 9 games are scheduled for tonight, with three English teams in play. Chelsea face Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway stage of the league stage, so the table is beginning to form. Each of the six British teams are currently in the top 12, but there are only two pts between fifth and 16th place, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Match Schedule

Here are tonight’s fixtures, all kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Squad Updates

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

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

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

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

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute strike has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage away to the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though The Magpies traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative two-one home English top-flight win against Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a available twelve and direct progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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