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Greetings to a fresh evening of thrilling European Cup soccer. Nine fixtures are set for tonight, including three English clubs in action. Chelsea take on Barça in the standout fixture of the evening, whilst Newcastle travel to the French side and City host Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway stage of the group stage, so the table is taking form. All six English sides are presently in the top 12, but there are only two pts separating fifth and sixteenth place, so there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open.

Match Schedule

Here are this evening's games, each kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea lineup. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal starts for Barça; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute strike has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League victory over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available 12 and direct progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

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