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Welcome to a fresh evening of thrilling European Cup soccer. Nine games are planned for this evening, with 3 English teams in play. Chelsea face Barça in the marquee fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the midway point of the group phase, so the rankings is taking form. All six English sides are presently in the top 12, but there are only 2 pts between fifth and 16th place, thus there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

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

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

Squad Updates

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea side. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

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

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

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

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute strike has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil lead at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle arrived in the French south coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League victory against City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a possible twelve and direct progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the MBM version of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.