🔗 Share this article Champions League Matches This Evening: Chelsea v Barcelona & Additional Games Welcome to another evening of electrifying Champions League soccer. Nine matches are planned for this evening, featuring three British clubs in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the marquee match of the evening, while The Magpies visit Marseille and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen. Group Rankings We're at the halfway point of the group stage, meaning the rankings is taking form. All six British teams are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 points between fifth and sixteenth position, so there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open. Tonight’s Fixtures These are tonight’s matches, each starting at 8:00 PM except where noted: Ajax 0-1 Benfica (17:45) Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (5.45pm) Juventus face Bodo/Glimt Barcelona take on Chelsea Villarreal meet Dortmund Man City v Leverkusen Newcastle travel to Marseille Qarabag play Napoli Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao Squad Updates Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea team. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap. Lamine Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes. The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho. Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte. Barça (possible four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski. Substitutes: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji. Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia). Previous Encounters The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, won by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history. Early Match Updates Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage at Ajax. Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille Even though The Magpies arrived in the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight win over 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 overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine points from a possible 12 and direct progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.” We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.