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Greetings to a fresh night of electrifying European Cup football. Nine matches are set for tonight, including 3 British teams in play. Chelsea face Barça in the marquee fixture of the evening, whilst Newcastle visit Marseille and City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the midway point of the league stage, so the table is taking form. Each of the six English clubs are presently in the top 12, however there are only 2 pts separating fifth and 16th place, thus there's a hint of uncertainty about the whole thing. All remains open.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are tonight’s fixtures, each kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (5.45pm)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (5.45pm)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Team News

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

Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.

Chelsea (probable four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barcelona (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute goal has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight win against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the European table, with 9 pts from a available twelve and automatic progression 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. Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Maradona is handling for that.