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Greetings to another night of thrilling European Cup football. Nine matches are scheduled for this evening, including three British teams in play. Chelsea take on Barça in the key fixture of the night, while The Magpies visit the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway point of the league stage, so the standings is taking form. All six English clubs are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only two pts between 5th and sixteenth place, so there's a whiff of volatility about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are tonight’s matches, all starting at 8pm unless stated:

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

Squad Updates

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

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

The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

Barça (possible four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though The Magpies arrived in the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight win over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away 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 travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a available 12 and direct qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

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