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Welcome to a fresh night of exciting European Cup football. 9 fixtures are set for this evening, featuring three British clubs in action. Chelsea face Barça in the marquee fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

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

Match Schedule

These are this evening's fixtures, all starting at 8pm except where noted:

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barça (possible four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle arrived in the French south fresh from their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight win over City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the European table, with 9 pts from a available twelve and direct qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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