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Welcome to a fresh evening of thrilling European Cup football. Nine matches are scheduled for this evening, featuring 3 English clubs in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the marquee fixture of the evening, while The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway stage of the league phase, so the rankings is starting to take shape. All six British clubs are presently in the top 12, but there are only two points between fifth and sixteenth position, thus there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

Here are this evening's games, all starting at 8pm except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea side. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barcelona (probable 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Subs: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, claimed by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead away to the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies arrived in the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the European table, with 9 points from a available twelve and direct progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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