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Greetings to another night of thrilling European Cup football. Nine games are set for this evening, with three English teams in action. The Blues take on Barcelona in the key fixture of the night, while The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway stage of the league phase, meaning the rankings is taking form. All six British sides are currently in the top 12, however there are only 2 points between 5th and 16th position, so there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

Here are this evening's matches, all kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea lineup. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

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

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

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

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their restorative 2-1 home Premier League win against Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible 12 and automatic progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is handling for that.