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Welcome to another night of exciting European Cup football. 9 games are planned for tonight, featuring 3 English clubs in action. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the key match of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to Marseille and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway stage of the group phase, so the standings is beginning to form. All six British clubs are presently in the top 12, but there are only two pts between fifth and 16th position, thus there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

Here are tonight’s matches, all starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (17:45)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (5.45pm)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Squad Updates

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea team. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

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

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

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, won by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler 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 restorative two-one home Premier League win against Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect 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 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the MBM version of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.