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Greetings to another evening of electrifying European Cup soccer. Nine fixtures are planned for this evening, featuring three British clubs in play. The Blues face Barça in the marquee fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway stage of the league stage, so the rankings is taking form. Each of the six English clubs are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts separating 5th and 16th position, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

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

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues team. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

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

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

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies traveled to the French south coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League victory against City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is handling for that.