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Greetings to a fresh evening of electrifying European Cup soccer. Nine games are set for this evening, featuring three British clubs in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the key fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to Marseille and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway stage of the group stage, so the standings is taking form. Each of the six British sides are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts separating fifth and 16th position, thus there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

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

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

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Blues lineup. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

The Blues (probable four-three-three) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

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

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil lead away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative 2-1 home Premier League win over 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 the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the European table, with nine pts from a available twelve and direct progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is handling for that.