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Greetings to a fresh evening of exciting European Cup football. Nine games are set for this evening, including 3 British teams in play. The Blues take on Barcelona in the key match of the evening, while Newcastle visit Marseille and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the halfway point of the group phase, meaning the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six English clubs are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts between fifth and 16th place, so there's a hint of volatility about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

Here are tonight’s fixtures, all starting at 8pm except where noted:

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (5.45pm)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (17:45)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea side. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

Subs: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

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

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

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, won by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute goal has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League win over Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic 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 don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.