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Greetings to another evening of thrilling European Cup soccer. Nine matches are planned for tonight, including 3 English clubs in action. The Blues meet Barça in the standout fixture of the evening, whilst Newcastle travel to Marseille and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the midway stage of the group phase, so the rankings is taking form. Each of the six English sides are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only two pts between 5th and 16th position, so there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

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

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (5.45pm)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (5.45pm)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea lineup. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

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

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

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

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the European table, with nine points from a possible 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare 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.