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Greetings to a fresh night of electrifying European Cup soccer. 9 matches are planned for this evening, including 3 English teams in play. Chelsea meet Barcelona in the marquee match of the night, while The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the midway point of the group stage, so the rankings is beginning to form. All six British teams are currently in the top 12, but there are only two points separating 5th and 16th place, thus there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open.

Match Schedule

These are tonight’s matches, each starting at 8pm except where noted:

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

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues team. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is on the bench.

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

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

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

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

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

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative two-one home Premier League victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a possible 12 and automatic qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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