PSG v Barcelona - Europe's most exciting match-up?

Paris St-Germain v Barcelona - a fixture that could prove to be the most exciting in this season’s Champions League.

The free-scoring teams start match week three as the league phase’s top two, with PSG ahead of Barcelona on goals scored and with no other sides having netted more this term.

PSG were 2-1 winners when they met at this stage last season, with Luis Enrique’s side going on to win a second successive Champions League title, having also beaten Barcelona over two legs in the quarter-finals three seasons ago.

“It will be a fascinating game on Tuesday,” French football expert Julien Laurens told BBC Sport’s Euro Leagues podcast.

Since the start of the 2025 Club World Cup, Barca and PSG rank second and third respectively for most goals scored per match by clubs in Europe’s top five leagues.

Barca have netted 192 times in 68 games at a rate of 2.82 per match, with PSG scoring 154 in 67 games at 2.3 per outing.

Only Bayern Munich rank above both.

Often dubbed the least competitive of the five major European leagues, PSG have dominated French football in recent times.

They have won 12 of the past 14 Ligue 1 titles, including the past five. Three of those five were by nine or more points.

Barca are defending La Liga champions and have won three of the past four titles. Last season they finished eight points clear of arch rivals and runners-up Real Madrid.

PSG became only the second team in the Champions League era to win it in back-to-back seasons, after Real Madrid.

In the past two seasons only Bayern from Europe’s big five leagues can match Barca and PSG for back-to-back titles.

A further look into recent statistics shows the high praise directed at PSG and Barca is warranted.

In expected goals (xG) per league match in Europe’s top five leagues since last season, Barca (2.56) and PSG (2.22) rank second and third respectively. Only Bayern (3.06) are above both.

Barcelona are also second for goals scored and goals scored per match in that time, with PSG sixth and fifth in those metrics respectively.

However, PSG have played fewer league games than Barca, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester City, who are all high performers in those tables.

PSG’s squad depth has allowed them to make wholesale changes frequently in Ligue 1 games and still get results.

They beat Strasbourg 3-1 on Saturday despite making eight changes to the team that won 4-2 in the Champions League three days earlier.

“They’ve earned the right to rest their players,” said European football journalist Raphael Honigstein.

Barca have also added squad depth this season that has led to an increase in attacking firepower.

In 10 of their 11 matches in all competitions this season they have scored three or more goals. In six games they have scored five or more.

“The biggest and most obvious difference is the squad depth that they’ve added through some brilliant signings in the likes of Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi,” said BBC Sport’s Spanish football reporter Elizabeth Conway.

“They’ve brought real pace and directness to the attack, and Gabriel Jesus has given them another option up front. It’s been pivotal.”

At the helm of PSG is Spaniard Luis Enrique, who has plenty of connections with Barca.

Enrique spent the past eight years of his playing career at the Camp Nou between 1996 and 2004, before managing the club’s B team in his first managerial role.

Enrique, 56, spent three years in charge of Barca’s first team between 2014 and 2017 before going on to manage Spain.

As Barca head coach, Enrique won La Liga twice, the Copa del Rey three times and the 2014-15 Champions League title.

Enrique is not alone in swapping Barcelona for the French capital. Forward Ferran Torres made the same move over the summer shortly after scoring the winning goal for Spain in the World Cup final.

PSG’s star forward Ousmane Dembele also spent time at Barca before joining PSG.

As well as the collective success of both sides, the individuals starring at PSG and Barcelona are among the world’s best.

Of the top 14 players on the 2025 Ballon d’Or list, eight of them were current players at PSG or Barcelona.

Dembele and team-mate Vitinha finished first and third respectively, with Barcelona teenager Lamine Yamal second.

Next Monday’s 2026 Ballon d’Or list is also likely to be a similar story. Of the 30 players listed for the award, 13 play for the two clubs.

Lamine Yamal, who has eight La Liga goals this season, is among the favourites for this year’s award.

“He’s still only 19 and he’s still very much developing,” said Laurens.

“The variety that he has in his game, the dribbling and the skills - just everything that he does is just so, so good now.

“You take him out - [it is] still a very, very good team. Let’s say you put Adeyemi on the right and Gordon on the left, and Raphinha - it’s still a great front three.

“But you put Lamine Yamal in there and suddenly it becomes a phenomenal front three.”

What are the yellow card suspension rules in Champions League?

Arsenal forward Kai Havertz is among the players to have received a yellow card in this season’s Champions League.

In the Champions League, players will receive a one-match ban should they receive four yellow cards.

This rule runs from the start of the league phase until the end of the quarter-finals. After then, all yellow cards are wiped out and players cannot be suspended for multiple yellow cards.

The same rules apply for both the Europa League and the Conference League.

During the opening two rounds of Champions League, five players received two yellow cards, meaning they are entering this week’s third round of matches two cautions away from a one-match ban.

Players can also be suspended if they pick up six, eight or 10 yellow cards. This would also result in a one-match suspension every time a player hits an even number of yellow cards above four.

The five players currently on two yellow cards are: Armando Obispo (PSV Eindhoven), Hakan Calhanoglu (Inter Milan), Jan Virgili (Club Brugge), Marlon Gomes (Shakhtar Donetsk) and Serginio Dest (PSV Eindhoven).

Maddison's magic moment for Spurs - 18 months in the making

Roberto de Zerbi has used all the tools at his disposal to discover the missing spark in struggling Tottenham Hotspur, from acting as an amateur psychologist to team bonding dinners, then a sunshine break in Marbella.

The answer, at least when Spurs finally moved off the bottom of the table with their first Premier League win this season against Coventry City, came in the shape of James Maddison as he made his first start in 18 months.

He missed most of last season after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in pre-season, before fracturing his shoulder in the opening-weekend defeat at Brentford in this campaign.

The 29-year-old finally made it back into the Spurs starting line-up to face Coventry - and delivered in spectacular style to set them on the way to a 3-1 victory that De Zerbi hopes will finally give their season lift-off.

Maddison could barely keep the smile from his face as he warmed up, then made his mark in the 14th minute by showing what Spurs have been missing with a brilliant right-foot finish from 20 yards, taking Mohammed Kudus’ pass first time to arc a sweeping strike high beyond Coventry City keeper Carl Rushworth.

It was a moment of sweet relief for Maddison, the goal getting loud gasps of admiration from Spurs supporters as it was shown several times on the stadium’s big screens.

Even though the goal came against his former club, Maddison celebrated with his trademark imaginary dart throwing motion before kissing the badge on his Spurs shirt.

Maddison’s significance to Spurs is illustrated by the fact they had won just 12 out of 57 Premier League games since his last top-flight goal, in a 1-0 victory against Manchester United in February 2025. They had averaged less than a point a game since then.

And since his last start, at Liverpool on 27 April 2025, Spurs had won only 11 of 49 league games in between, losing 23.

Spurs cannot kid themselves that this was a glorious victory. It was actually only their sixth win in the past 37 home league games - drawing 10 and losing 21 - and just their fourth league victory overall in 2026, having played 27, drawn 10 and lost 13.

And it was the first time they scored three goals or more at home in the league since the opening day of last season, when they beat Burnley 3-0 in Thomas Frank’s first game in charge.

There are still too many nerves around Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and in De Zerbi’s team for calm and relaxation.

The victory margin flattered them somewhat, with Jack Rudoni equalising for Coventry City before Omar Marmoush’s strike for his first goal for the club, then another from Ben Davies in stoppage time after a dreadful Rushworth error finally allowed Spurs to enjoy the relief of victory.

And there were other things to celebrate. As well as Maddison’s successful return to the starting line-up, there was the sight of Dejan Kulusevski finally back as an 87th-minute replacement for Kudus after 526 days out with a knee injury.

Maddison got a deserved standing ovation when he was substituted for Conor Gallagher after 69 minutes, but the reception for Kulusevski was arguably even more rapturous as he finally took to the pitch again after such a long battle to regain fitness.

It was Maddison, however, who claimed the major plaudits after he was the driving force behind the win that has proved so elusive - his positive approach playing with a smile on his face provides refreshment of its own after such a depressing sequence of results.

He was eager to get on the ball, was constantly probing and prompting, all before he inevitably tired after the break.

“I spoke to the gaffer this weekend about it, feeling like it was the right moment for me to go back into the starting XI after a bit of a stop-start start to the season,” Maddison told Sky Sports.

“I just wanted to play well and show my abilities, show what the team has missed the last 18 months. The gaffer asked me to play and wanted to enjoy watching from the side. Hopefully I did that, and a goal is always nice.”

If his aim was to show what Spurs have been missing, this was very much mission accomplished.

And as well as Maddison and Kulusevski, Marmoush will gain confidence from his strike, another superb curling effort that gave Rushworth no chance.

De Zerbi will know this is only a start, with a tough trip to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening (17:30 BST).

He welcomed the return of Maddison and Kulusevski, saying: “They are different players, different talents, different personalities. With them in the dressing room there is a different atmosphere.”

What changes the atmosphere in the dressing room and beyond most are victories.

Now De Zerbi and Spurs can actually build on three points at last, and the sights of Maddison and Kulusevski back in action will have the Italian hoping they can accelerate an improvement after the misery of recent times.

Who has made Troy's Premier League team of the week?

After every round of Premier League matches this season, BBC football pundit Troy Deeney will give you his team and manager of the week.

Here are this week’s choices. Do you agree? Give us your thoughts using the comments form at the bottom of this page.

Bart Verbruggen (Brighton): I was looking at other teams, but there were so many games this week with very poor quality. Even David Raya against Forest had two shots to deal with, terrible from a goalkeeping point of view, so Verbruggen goes in for his clean sheet.

Levi Colwill (Chelsea): He goes in only because Chelsea got a clean sheet in the league for the first time since January. He stepped up with the young goalkeeper Mike Penders in there.

Gabriel (Arsenal): Arsenal win 1-0 and get the job done. He was right at the heart of it. A lot of people talking about Ezri Konsa, I like him but Gabriel offered that bit more in terms of experience and quality that you need to get the job done, so he goes in.

Luka Vuskovic (Brighton): It is the same reason Verbruggen was in. Everyone else can’t defend. He was good. They had a clean sheet against their nearest rivals.

Diogo Dalot (Manchester United): Played at left-back and I thought he was amazing. Could he offer a little more in terms of quality? Absolutely. But high energy, dealt with the physical threat, defended well and offered an outlet going forward in a game that was very scrappy. Manchester United just needed to show resilience and he was right at the front for that.

Sander Berge (Fulham): It was a massive game against Hull, a six-pointer and if Fulham lose that they are going down in my opinion. But they got the job done and he was at the heart of everything good for them.

Diego Gomez (Brighton): He scored from the halfway line, nothing more needs to be said.

Pedro Neto (Chelsea): Two goals, wins the game for Chelsea. He is one of those players when you look at him you think ‘he is good, but I don’t know why he is good’, but in this game he put it all together. With all the talk of Morgan Rogers, Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer, he could have a sneaky good season because these guys will take the attention of defenders and Neto can get in with his pace at the back post.

Johan Manzambi (Aston Villa): By far the player of the month so far. An unbelievable young talent from Switzerland, 21 years of age, carrying this Aston Villa team with an aura and humbleness of ‘I want to learn and do more’, but also ‘I’m the man of this team, give me the ball, let me show you what I can do’.

James Maddison (Tottenham): Welcome back James Maddison. Spurs needed a bit of quality in the final third and we were unsure who would score for them, and Maddison puts it in the top corner. Great to see him back, great to see him healthy and great to see him smiling.

Erling Haaland (Manchester City): For already the third time and with probably another 10 times to go, Mr Erling Haaland. Started up top, job done, two goals against a really poor Ipswich team and he could’ve had a hat-trick. Unreal from him.

Fabian Hurzeler (Brighton): He is doing an unbelievable job. A lot of people, including myself, were wondering whether he doing a ‘pat myself on the back lap of appreciation tour’ after beating Arsenal - but actually what he was showing is that he is a very good manager who can continue to deliver week in and week out. He was fantastic, got the tactics spot on and also introduced some players who had been out injured.

Martinez breaks jaw in Chelsea win at Everton

Chelsea goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez says he will be back “in a few weeks” after breaking his jaw in the 2-0 Premier League win at Everton on Saturday.

The 34-year-old Argentina international and Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite clashed heads in the second half at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Martinez needed treatment for eight minutes before leaving the pitch on a stretcher. He was taken to hospital, where Chelsea said he had “successful” surgery.

Martinez posted a photo of himself wearing a hospital gown on social media on Sunday.

“Thanks to everyone for the messages. The operation went well,” he wrote.

“The most important thing is that we won, and kept a clean sheet. In a few weeks we’ll be back.”

Mike Penders, who replaced Martinez to make his Premier League debut, looks set to play in Chelsea’s next three matches at least.

They face Tottenham and Manchester United in the Premier League, with a Carabao Cup tie at Liverpool in between.

Penders, 21, signed from Belgium club Genk for £17m in 2024.

Alonso said: “Mike has personality. He’s brave and we have full trust with him. He did well when he came on.

“He played in the cup games and whenever he’s needed. Like the other players, whenever they are needed they can perform.

“It’s all about the squad - that all the players feel important and can have their moment whenever they are needed, and that’s very positive.”