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Welcome to a fresh evening of electrifying European Cup football. 9 fixtures are set for this evening, with 3 British clubs in play. Chelsea face Barcelona in the standout match of the night, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway stage of the group stage, meaning the rankings is taking form. All six British teams are currently in the top 12, however there are only two points separating fifth and sixteenth position, so there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are tonight’s fixtures, each starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (17:45)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (17:45)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues lineup. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

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

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barcelona (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, won by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies arrived in the south of France fresh from their restorative 2-1 home Premier League victory against City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a available 12 and automatic progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

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