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Greetings to a fresh evening of electrifying European Cup soccer. Nine matches are set for tonight, featuring 3 British clubs in play. Chelsea meet Barça in the standout match of the night, while Newcastle travel to Marseille and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway point of the group stage, so the table is taking form. Each of the six British sides are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts separating 5th and sixteenth place, so there's a whiff of volatility about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

Here are tonight’s games, each starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues side. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

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

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, won by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight victory over City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a possible twelve and automatic qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.