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Greetings to another evening of thrilling European Cup soccer. 9 games are set for tonight, with 3 British teams in play. The Blues face Barcelona in the marquee fixture of the night, while The Magpies visit Marseille and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the midway point of the league phase, meaning the standings is taking form. All six British sides are currently in the top 12, however there are only two points separating 5th and sixteenth position, thus there's a sense of volatility about the entire situation. All remains open.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are this evening's games, each starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea side. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

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

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though The Magpies traveled to the French south coming off their restorative two-one home Premier League victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a possible 12 and automatic progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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