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Welcome to another night of electrifying European Cup soccer. 9 matches are set for tonight, with three British teams in play. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the standout match of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway point of the group stage, so the standings is starting to take shape. Each of the six English clubs are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts between 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are tonight’s fixtures, each starting at 8pm unless stated:

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

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

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

Barça (possible four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, claimed by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. 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 sixth-minute strike has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win over City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was eager to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with nine points from a possible twelve and direct progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is handling for that.