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Welcome to a fresh evening of thrilling European Cup football. 9 fixtures are planned for this evening, including 3 English teams in action. Chelsea face Barça in the key match of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to the French side and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway point of the league phase, so the standings is starting to take shape. Each of the six English teams are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only two points between 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are this evening's games, each starting 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
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

The Blues (possible 4-3-3) Sanchez; James, Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, won by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies arrived in the south of France fresh from their restorative two-one home Premier League win over Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible twelve and direct progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Maradona is on duty for that.