PSG are without Nuno Mendes for Barcelona’s visit, and Lucas Digne is likely to get Lamine Yamal
Barcelona arrive in Paris with 11 wins from 11 and a thin defence, while PSG must face Lamine Yamal without the full-back who shut him out last October.
Oct 20, 2026
Barcelona have played 11 games this season and won all of them. PSG, who host them at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday, are the side that ended last season as European champions for the second year running, and Luis Enrique was blunt about the target on Monday: “We want to become the first team to beat Barça this season.”
Both clubs have six points from their two league-phase games, with the same goal difference. PSG top the table on goals scored, 10 to nine. Kick-off is 9pm in Paris, which is 12:30am IST on Wednesday.
No Nuno Mendes for the Yamal job
The biggest team news is on PSG’s left. Nuno Mendes is injured, and he is the player who has done most to keep Lamine Yamal quiet in this fixture. He was man of the match when PSG won 2-1 at Montjuïc on 1 October 2025, and Achraf Hakimi said beforehand that Mendes was “capable of stopping Lamine”.
Lucas Digne is the likely replacement. Asked how PSG would cope, Luis Enrique talked about the ball rather than the full-back. “The best way to stop Lamine Yamal is to keep the ball away from Barcelona,” he said. “If he cannot get the ball, everything is calm. That would be ideal, but we know it won’t be the case.”
He coached Lionel Messi at Barcelona, and he had no time for the comparison. Yamal, he said, “wants to be Lamine and he is doing very well”.
Flick is short of centre-backs
Barcelona’s worries are at the back. Jules Koundé sprained an ankle and Eric García strained a thigh, and both are out. Andreas Christensen is already injured. Gerard Martín has made the squad after an ankle knock took him off at half-time against Betis, which leaves him and Pau Cubarsí as the only fit senior centre-backs. Hansi Flick named Rodri and Frenkie de Jong as players who can cover, and Àlex Campos, an 18-year-old centre-back, has his first first-team call-up.
The good news for Flick is further forward. Raphinha missed the 4-1 win at Galatasaray on 13 October, and Flick said on Monday he is ready to start.
Both sides score for fun
Neither team has had much trouble finding the net in Europe. PSG beat Slovan Bratislava 6-1 at home, with a Ferran Torres hat-trick, and then won 4-2 at Manchester City. Barcelona opened with a 5-1 win over Feyenoord before Istanbul. Opta counts four straight league-phase games in which Barcelona have scored at least four, which it says is the longest such run in European Cup history.
Both came through their weekend games too. Barcelona won 5-2 at Real Betis on Saturday, and PSG came from behind to win 3-1 at Strasbourg the same day.
Recent history is on PSG’s side. They have won the last two meetings, 4-1 in Barcelona in the second leg of the 2024 quarter-final and then that 2-1 a year ago. Opta’s model gives PSG a 39.7% chance of winning, Barcelona 37.7% and a draw 22.6%. As near to a coin toss as it gets.
The Clásico is five days away
Flick has a second big game to plan for. The Betis win was Barcelona’s ninth in nine La Liga games, which equals the competition’s best start, and Real Madrid come to Camp Nou on Sunday 25 October with the record at stake.
Luis Enrique played the night down, calling it “just three points” with the competition not really starting until April. Coming from a manager who has won this competition three times, two of them with PSG, that is probably not how he really sees it.