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Greetings to another night of thrilling European Cup football. 9 fixtures are set for this evening, with three British clubs in play. The Blues face Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, whilst Newcastle visit Marseille and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the midway point of the group phase, so the rankings is starting to take shape. Each of the six British sides are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only two pts separating 5th and 16th place, thus there's a sense of uncertainty about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are tonight’s games, all kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (17:45)
• 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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.

The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Subs: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead away to the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle arrived in the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight win over City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road win since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was eager to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a possible twelve and automatic qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the MBM version of Diego Maradona is handling for that.