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Greetings to another evening of exciting European Cup soccer. 9 fixtures are set for tonight, featuring 3 British clubs in action. The Blues take on Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, while The Magpies visit the French side and City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway stage of the group phase, so the rankings is beginning to form. All six English teams are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only two points between 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a sense of uncertainty about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are tonight’s matches, each kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (5.45pm)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (5.45pm)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• 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, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is on the bench.

The Blues (probable four-three-three) Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barcelona (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, claimed by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight win against City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a possible twelve and direct progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is handling for that.