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Welcome to another night of thrilling Champions League soccer. 9 matches are planned for tonight, featuring three British teams in play. Chelsea face Barcelona in the key fixture of the night, whilst The Magpies travel to Marseille and City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway stage of the league phase, meaning the rankings is starting to take shape. All six British sides are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 points between 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are tonight’s games, each kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Squad Updates

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Blues lineup. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Rashford is on the bench.

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

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barcelona (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, claimed by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

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

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though The Magpies arrived in the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League win against City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine pts from a possible 12 and automatic progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.