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Greetings to a fresh evening of exciting European Cup football. Nine games are set for tonight, including 3 British clubs in play. The Blues take on Barcelona in the standout match of the evening, whilst Newcastle visit the French side and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the midway point of the league stage, meaning the table is taking form. All six British clubs are currently in the top 12, but there are only two pts between fifth and 16th place, so there's a whiff of uncertainty about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are this evening's matches, all kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea team. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

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

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

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

Subs: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

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

Initial Game Reports

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

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League victory against City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine pts from a available twelve and direct progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is on duty for that.