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UCL Champions League Returns Advertisement live Updated 4m ago Barcelona host reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, as both sides look to continue their winning record in the early rounds of the group phase. PSG return to European action on the back of winning a raft of team and individual awards at the Ballon D’Or, including the main prize for Ousmane Dembele. Meanwhile, Barcelona have the runner-up to the award in Lamine Yamal as they look to return to prominence on the European stage. There is a reason Lamine Yamal fever descended on Barcelona not long after he became the club’s youngest player to debut for Barcelona in the 21st century, aged 15 years, 9 months, and 16 days. Since then, he has become one of the club’s top earners, won two La Liga titles, a European Championship with Spain and last week came second in the voting for the Ballon d’Or. In each of the past two seasons, Yamal, who turned 18 in July, has played 50 or more games for his club. Not many in Europe shine brighter than the teenager. Advertisement They look to be. Before the international break, there was quite a different mood as Flick criticised the attitude of his players following a 1-1 draw at Rayo Vallecano on August 31. They’ve since recorded five straight wins. They do have multiple injuries (as do PSG) but Yamal returning to action is a huge boost, while Pedri and Frenkie de Jong both look on song. With those three at the peak of their powers, Barcelona will feel ready for any team in the world. After getting some minutes on Sunday, Yamal can be expected to start, but Flick will have other big decisions to make. Who is going to play up front, Lewandowski or Ferran Torres? Pau Cubarsi’s partner at the back will be another one to keep an eye on. Ronald Araujo might look like the favourite, but Eric Garcia has begun the season in great form. Rashford looks set to start from the left of the attack. When Gavi arrived at the Hospital de Barcelona on Monday, he was expecting to have a procedure that would help finally clear up the discomfort in his right knee that had kept him out since August. In the end, everyone — even the doctors — was surprised when it was discovered he actually had a much more serious injury than previously thought. But when surgery was carried out, doctors realised that he did not have a bruised meniscus. It was actually broken and needed to be repaired by being sewn back together. Gavi’s recovery time went from just over a month out to five times that. Read more on Barca’s nightmare scenario of losing Gavi for an extended period from Laia Cervelló Herrero and Pol Ballus below. GO FURTHER Gavi’s five-month knee injury came as a shock to doctors and the dressing room Meanwhile, Barcelona will be without some big names of their own. Goalkeeper Joan Garcia is set to have surgery on a knee injury, while forward Raphinha faces three weeks out due to a thigh problem. The Catalan club said last week that Garcia will be out for four to six weeks after arthroscopic surgery to repair a tear in his left internal meniscus. Joining them are Fermin Lopez, who suffered a groin injury, with the club saying that he will likely be ruled out for three weeks. The biggest blow is Gavi’s torn meniscus. The 21-year-old is set to be out for five months after undergoing surgery on a problem that was initially diagnosed as being less severe. GO FURTHER Barcelona say Joan Garcia out six weeks with knee injury, Raphinha out three weeks with thigh issue For all our talk of Ousmane Dembele, PSG have known for a while know that they will be without their talisman. He was ruled out for six weeks in early September with a “severe” right hamstring injury. Meanwhile, winger Desire Doue is also sidelined for around four weeks due to a right calf injury. Not an ideal scenario for Luis Enrique. GO FURTHER PSG’s Ousmane Dembele out for six weeks with ‘severe’ injury, Desire Doue out for four weeks It has not been a straightforward path to being crowned the world’s best player for Ousmane Dembele. From a goal-shy winger with injury woes to a ruthless false nine, his transformation at PSG under Luis Enrique has been impressive. So what makes the Frenchman tick and just how did he pull it off? Dive deeper with the inside read from Tom Williams below. GO FURTHER How Ousmane Dembele won the Ballon d’Or – New role, learning to love tap-ins, and not ‘cheating’ Advertisement Ok, football is about much more than the individual. But we have already had a PSG vs Barcelona contest of sorts in recent weeks as Ousmane Dembele and Lamine Yamal were named as the top two in the Ballon D'Or respectively. Dembele took home the trophy and has not stopped smiling since. .. It felt like a shift in the European order last season when PSG finally landed their first Champions League win after a hell of a lot of trying. By contrast, that made it ten years since Barcelona last won the trophy. .. an agonisingly long time for a club of their size — only made worse by the good fortunes of greatest rivals Real Madrid in the competition in that time. So can Hansi Flick bring Barca back to the big time? They will hope so. .. It was one of the all time great Champions League meetings when these two teams last played each other in the quarter-final in 2023-24. Holding a 3-2 lead after the first leg away from home, Barcelona had reason to feel confident that they could get the job done on home turf but instead suffered a brutal knockout. Despite an early goal from Raphinha, a red card for Ronald Araujo made things difficult for Barca who then conceded four goals (Ousmane Dembele, Vitinha, Kylian Mbappe x2) and were dumped out of the competition. PSG went home victorious with a 6-4 aggregate win. There is nothing to separate Barcelona and PSG when it comes to their head-to-head record in UEFA competitions, with five wins apiece and four draws in the history of this contest. They last met in the quarter-finals of the competition in 2024. .. more on that in a minute. But the head-to-head that will matter most to both teams is their number of Champions League titles, which sees Barcelona well clear with five trophies to PSG’s one. Newcastle United 1-2 Barcelona It was a momentous occasion in Newcastle in the opening round of the league phase as they made their return to the Champions League with a tasty clash against Barca. And they were stubborn in their performance against the Spanish giants, who needed two lovely Marcus Rashford goals to seal the points. There was plenty of cause for encouragement for Hansi Flick in the performance. Advertisement PSG 4-0 Atalanta It was a flying start for the defending champions on their return to the Champions League as they stormed to a big win over Serie A side Atalanta. Goals from Marquinhos, Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, Nuno Mendes and Goncalo Ramos sent Luis Enrique’s side to the top of the league phase table. They will want to continue that form tonight. We can't take too much of the league-phase standings mid-way through the second round of fixtures, but these clubs all deserve a mention for their performances so far. Bayern Munich and Real Madrid — two big hitters in this competition over the years — maintained their 100 per cent win records and remain at the top of the table. A few more teams will be looking to keep the pressure on them with wins tonight. We had nine brilliant games in the Champions League last night — here’s how they finished We have eight other Champions League games coming your way this evening. Here are the matches and their kick-off times: 5: 45pm Qarabag vs Copenhagen Union St. Gilloise vs Newcastle 8pm Arsenal vs Olympiacos Barcelona vs Paris Saint-Germain Bayer Leverkusen vs PSV Dortmund vs Athletic Club Monaco vs Manchester City Napoli vs Sporting CP Villarreal vs Juventus All times BST Estadi Lluis Companys, Barcelona Well, Barcelona were not meant to be playing at the Olympic stadium but their renovation of Camp Nou is not yet complete. The 55, 926 capacity ground is their home away from home in the meantime. Advertisement The thrilling conclusion to the Ryder Cup brought an end to the year's biggest golfing events but, fear not! There is still so much sports coverage to enjoy on The Athletic. The NFL and College Football seasons are still in their first few weeks and the 2025-26 NBA campaign is only a few weeks away from starting. The soccer season is starting to really get going and the MLB play-offs start today! All of that — and lots more — will be covered right here, so make sure to subscribe to The Athletic on an exclusive offer here. Here is how you can tune into the action live, depending on where you are in the world: The usual evening kick-off slot for this one. That's 8pm (BST) in the UK and 9pm local time in Barcelona. For those of you Stateside, it is 3pm (ET) on the east coast and 12pm (PT) on the west.