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Greetings to another evening of thrilling European Cup football. 9 games are set for tonight, featuring 3 British clubs in play. The Blues take on Barcelona in the standout match of the night, while Newcastle visit Marseille and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway stage of the group phase, meaning the table is taking form. Each of the six English sides are currently in the top 12, but there are only two pts separating fifth and 16th position, so there's a sense of volatility about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

These are tonight’s matches, each kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

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

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

The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; James, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

Substitutes: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, won by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. 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 sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies traveled to the south of France fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight win over City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a available twelve and direct qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “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 Diego Maradona is on duty for that.