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Welcome to a fresh evening of thrilling Champions League soccer. 9 fixtures are planned for this evening, including 3 British clubs in action. The Blues meet Barcelona in the key fixture of the night, whilst Newcastle visit Marseille and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway stage of the group stage, so the standings is taking form. All six English teams are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 pts between 5th and 16th place, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Match Schedule

Here are this evening's games, each kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

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

Squad Updates

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues team. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Rashford is among the substitutes.

The Blues (possible 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

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

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

Substitutes: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, claimed by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle arrived in the French south coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League victory against Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away victory since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a available twelve and direct qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the MBM version of Diego Maradona is handling for that.