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Welcome to a fresh night of electrifying European Cup soccer. 9 fixtures are scheduled for this evening, with three British clubs in action. The Blues take on Barcelona in the standout match of the night, while Newcastle travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the midway stage of the group stage, meaning the standings is taking form. All six English sides are currently in the top 12, however there are only 2 points separating 5th and 16th place, thus there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

Here are tonight’s matches, all starting at 8pm unless stated:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea lineup. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

Chelsea (possible four-three-three) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barcelona (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, claimed by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute strike has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a possible twelve and automatic progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

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