FC Barcelona (14th, 3pts) vs Paris Saint-Germain (5th, 3pts)*
*Standings at the time of writing
Competition/Round: 2025-26 UEFA Champions League, League Phase, Matchday 2
Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Marc-André ter Stegen, Joan Garcia, Gavi, Raphinha, Fermín López (out),
Alejandro Balde (doubt)
PSG Outs & Doubts: Marquinhos, Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembele, Désiré Doué (out), Vitinha (doubt)
Date/Time: Wednesday, October 1, 2025, 9pm CET (Barcelona), 8pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 12.30am IST (India, Friday)
Venue: Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, Montjuïc, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Referee: Michael Oliver (ENG)
VAR: Jarred Gillett (AUS)
How to watch on TV: TNT Sports 4 (UK), SuperSport (Nigeria), SONY TEN 2 (India), Movistar (Spain), others
How to watch online: Paramount+ (USA), discovery+ (UK), Sony LIV (India), Movistar+ (Spain), others
Following a hard-fought win over Real Sociedad at the weekend to reclaim top spot in the La Liga table, Barcelona return to action for the biggest game of their season so far as the Blaugrana take on reigning European champions and Treble winners Paris Saint-Germain in the marquee matchup of the League Phase in this season’s Champions League at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium on Wednesday night.
Barça come into this one in excellent form, having won five in a row in all competitions since the international break and looking every bit like the team that should have faced PSG in last season’s European Final if not for the heartbreak at San Siro.
We were all robbed of a potential title match for the ages between these two last May, but they are big favorites to reach next year’s championship game in Budapest and will give us a preview of what could very well be a matchup between them in one of the knockout rounds of Europe’s top competition this season, maybe even the Final if the bracket breaks right.
It’s a shame that both teams are missing such key pieces due to injury for this one, but both still have a whole lot of talent available to put on a show on Wednesday: Barça won’t have Raphinha but Lamine Yamal is back, and PSG were facing the scary prospect of missing seven starters from their star-studded XI but will only miss four, and the sensational midfield trio of Vitinha, João Neves and Fabián Ruiz is intact and ready to go for this one.
The midfield figures to be the deciding factor in this game: Pedri and Frenkie de Jong already had to face a great central trio in Newcastle and came out on top with a spectacular performance by the two pivots, but the challenge is even tougher this time given the PSG midfield’s ability to set the tempo and press relentlessly without the ball.
The battle between Lamine Yamal and Nuno Mendes is another huge duel ahead of this one: Mendes got the better of the matchup when Spain and Portugal met in the Nations League Final in June, and Yamal will be hungry to win it this time and provide the necessary service to his attacking partners.
PSG’s attack is considerably weaker with their entire front three absent, but Bradley Barcola is still a nightmare and Jules Kounde will need a top defensive performance against his international teammate, and Gonçalo Ramos is a high-level striker who deserves a ton of attention.
The right wing is the big question for PSG, and Luis Enrique might surprise many with Achraf Hakimi in that position and Warren Zaïre Emery as an inverted right-back when the starting lineups come out. Hakimi played in that position last week when PSG lost a tight game to Olympique Marseille on the road, and Enrique might try that again to use Hakimi’s pace against Barça’s high line and offer more protection defensively when the French giants don’t have the ball.
This is a truly fascinating matchup, and even though it is only Matchday 2 of the League Phase and both teams will have more than enough time to recover and still finish in the Top 8 in case of a defeat, they would love to pick up all three points and send an early statement to the other as the European season unfolds.
Barça lost 4-1 to PSG at Montjuïc the last time these two teams met when the Catalans were knocked out in the quarterfinals two seasons ago, so revenge will certainly be on their minds. This will be all kinds of fun, and it promises loads of goals and high-quality football from the two best attacking teams in the world.
Let’s f***ing dance.
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsí, Martín; De Jong, Pedri; Yamal, Olmo, Ferran; Lewandowski
PSG (4-3-3): Chevalier; Zaïre-Emery, Zabarnyi, Pacho, Mendes; Neves, Vitinha, Fabián; Hakimi, Ramos, Barcola
PREDICTION
This is a true clash of titans, even with the injuries, and this will be intense and fast-paced, with loads of chances for both sides and an epic midfield battle. It’ll be full of goals, and I think each side will take a point in a great preview of a possible knockout stage battle between them later in the season: 2-2 draw.
