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Greetings to another night of exciting European Cup soccer. 9 games are set for tonight, featuring 3 British teams in action. Chelsea face Barça in the key fixture of the evening, whilst Newcastle travel to Marseille and City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

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 points separating 5th and sixteenth position, thus there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are tonight’s fixtures, all starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Blues team. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

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

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

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead away to the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle arrived in the south of France fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight win against City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available 12 and automatic progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is handling for that.