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Greetings to another night of electrifying European Cup football. Nine fixtures are scheduled for tonight, featuring 3 English teams in play. The Blues meet Barça in the standout match of the night, while Newcastle travel to the French side and City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway point of the group stage, meaning the standings is beginning to form. All six British clubs are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts separating fifth and 16th place, so there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. All remains open.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are this evening's games, each 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
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Squad Updates

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea side. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

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

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

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

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away victory since the start of 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 European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a available 12 and automatic qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is handling for that.