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Greetings to a fresh evening of exciting European Cup soccer. 9 matches are scheduled for this evening, including 3 British clubs in play. The Blues take on Barça in the standout fixture of the evening, while Newcastle travel to the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway stage of the league phase, meaning the table is starting to take shape. All six British teams are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts separating fifth and sixteenth position, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the whole thing. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

These are this evening's matches, each kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

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

Squad Updates

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea side. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

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

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

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

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

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies traveled to the south of France fresh from their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight victory against City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine points from a available twelve and direct 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.