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Greetings to another night of electrifying European Cup football. Nine fixtures are set for this evening, with three British teams in play. Chelsea face Barça in the marquee fixture of the night, whilst Newcastle visit the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway point of the group phase, so the table is starting to take shape. Each of the six English teams are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 points separating fifth and sixteenth position, thus there's a hint of uncertainty about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

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

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

Subs: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

Subs: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

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

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage away to the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle arrived in the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League win against City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a possible twelve and automatic progression to the knockout phase 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 minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.