PSG vs Barcelona: Enrique’s PSG Goes Half-Power into a Champions League Test
30 septembre 2025
Preview: PSG vs Barcelona — Enrique's PSG Faces Barca with Key Absences
Luis Enrique, PSG's head coach, will face Barcelona tomorrow in the Champions League, almost with half his squad unavailable.
The Parisian giants, last season's European champions, travel to Montjuïc—the Barça fortress—without their attacking trio: Khvicha Kvartatskhelia, Désiré Doué, and Ousmane Dembélé, the team's top scorer and the recently crowned Ballon d'Or winner.
This trio had been central to PSG's five domestic and continental titles last season.
Defender Marquinhos, captain of the side, also misses the trip due to a muscle injury.
Enrique has struggled since the season began, with PSG starting late after a three-week warm-up following their Club World Cup campaign in the United States, where they lost the final 3-0 to Chelsea at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
The team trained for only a week before their first official test, a clash with Tottenham Hotspur that ended 2-2 and was decided by penalties.
Last season in the Champions League, PSG were the second-strongest attack with 38 goals, while Barcelona netted 43, although the Catalans played three fewer matches after exiting in the semi-finals and missing the playoff.
The Paris frontline had a pivotal role in the setbacks for opponents, with Dembélé scoring 8, Doué 5, Kvartatskhelia 3, as PSG navigated knockout ties against Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal, before routing Inter Milan 5-0 in the final on May 31 at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Earlier in the season, PSG had faced tough league tests, losing to Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Atlético Madrid, before rallying with a dramatic 4-2 win over Manchester City at the Parc des Princes—a turning point in their campaign.
What is PSG's squad for Barcelona? Enrique announced a 20-player squad for the second group-stage match in the Champions League.
Included in the list are: Achraf Hakimi, Lucas Peraldo, Elian Zabarni, Fabian Ruiz, Gonzalo Ramos, Vitinha, Lee Kang-In, Lucas Hernandez, Seni Mayulo, Nuno Mendes, Bradley Barcola, Lucas Chovaliye, Matvei Savonov, Yangel, Inganto, Ibrahim Mbaye, Willian Patcho, Joao Neves, and Renato Marin.
Who will referee Barça vs PSG? UEFA assigned English referee Michael Oliver, 40, who has officiated five PSG matches in the Champions League before.
He has not shown a red card to PSG in those five games; their only loss under his watch came in the 2022-23 first leg against Bayern Munich. Oliver has presided over 404 Premier League games, became a FIFA-listed referee in 2012, first officiated in the Champions League in 2016, and has since overseen 40 UCL matches and 25 Europa League matches.
He has also officiated in World Cups and European Championships, including Qatar 2022 and Euro 2021 and Euro 2024 in Germany.
Conversely, Oliver has officiated four Barcelona matches in the Champions League, with Barça winning once against Dynamo Kyiv in the 2020-21 group stage, drawing with Red Star in 2019-20 and Atalanta 2-2 last season, and losing 3-0 to Bayern Munich in the 2021-22 group stage.
Punchlines: two light jabs to end on a humorous note: If PSG’s plan is to hide the ball and run, they’ll need a longer sprint than their training schedule. And if Barcelona are missing players too, at least the mic will be on Enrique—the real talk show host of the night.
