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Welcome to another evening of exciting European Cup soccer. Nine fixtures are scheduled for tonight, with 3 British teams in action. Chelsea face Barça in the key match of the evening, while Newcastle visit the French side and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway stage of the group stage, meaning the rankings is beginning to form. All six English teams are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only two pts between 5th and 16th place, thus there's a hint of uncertainty about the entire situation. All remains open.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are this evening's fixtures, all starting at 8pm unless stated:

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

Team News

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues side. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

The Blues (possible four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, claimed by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies arrived in the French south coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road victory since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are sixth in the European table, with 9 pts from a possible twelve and automatic progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.