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Welcome to another evening of exciting European Cup soccer. 9 matches are set for this evening, including 3 British clubs in action. The Blues take on Barça in the marquee fixture of the night, while The Magpies visit the French side and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway stage of the group phase, so the table is beginning to form. Each of the six British clubs are presently in the top 12, but there are only two pts between 5th and 16th place, thus there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are this evening's fixtures, all kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues side. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

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

Subs: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, claimed by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League victory over City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road win since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible twelve and automatic qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is handling for that.