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Welcome to a fresh evening of exciting European Cup soccer. 9 fixtures are planned for tonight, featuring 3 British clubs in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the key fixture of the night, whilst The Magpies visit the French side and City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway point of the group stage, meaning the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six British teams are presently in the top 12, but there are only 2 points separating fifth and sixteenth position, thus there's a whiff of volatility about the whole thing. All remains open.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are this evening's games, each kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea team. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

Chelsea (possible four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

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

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

Substitutes: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

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

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle arrived in the French south coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League victory over City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a possible 12 and automatic qualification 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 Diego Maradona is handling for that.