Barcelona v PSG – Barça preview: plenty of quality but key players missing | OneFootball

This Wednesday, October 1st, Paris Saint-Germain faces FC Barcelona at Montjuïc Stadium (kick-off at 9pm, broadcast on Canal+) during the 2nd day of the 2025-2026 Champions League. And as before each match, here is the presentation of the Parisians' opponent.

The situation of FC Barcelona –

Barça is obviously a very big historical club and even when it goes through a period of "crisis", it is always seen in the top spots of La Liga, or even making runs that can be interesting in Europe. This has been the case recently and Barça has come out well, although there are still financial issues to be resolved.

Sportingly, the arrival of coach Hansi Flick during the summer of 2024 is rather a success. Last year, with an offensive game several times enticing, he won La Liga and the Spanish Cup while the place in the Champions League final was missed by a few minutes.

This season starts very well with first place in La Liga (6 wins and 1 draw) and a 1-2 victory against Newcastle on the first day.

The summer 2025 transfer window –

Source: Transfermarkt.

The departures:

The arrivals:

The main statistics –

This season, Barça has the best attack in La Liga with 21 goals scored (the second, Real Madrid, is at 16, and the last, Real Oviedo and Celta Vigo, are at 2), and has one of the best defenses with 5 goals conceded (like Villarreal, the last, Girona, is at 16).

The top scorer of Barça is Robert Lewandowski (37-year-old striker), with 4 goals he is among the 3rd in the league (the first in La Liga is Kylian Mbappé with 8 goals). Lamine Yamal (18-year-old striker) is the top assist provider of the Catalan club with 3 assists and he is among the 3rd in La Liga (Luis Milla and Vinicius are first with 4 assists).

The last 5 matches of Barça –

Only Barcelona's possession is indicated and Barça's shots are put first (when data is available).

14/09/2025 (La Liga) – Barcelona/Valencia: 6-0. In 4-2-3-1. 73% possession. 24 shots with 10 on target against 2 shots (1 on target)

18/09/2025 (Champions League) – Newcastle/Barcelona: 1-2. In 4-2-3-1. 65% possession. 19 shots with 5 on target against 10 shots (6 on target).

21/09/2025 (La Liga) – Barcelona/Getafe: 3-0. In 4-3-3. 71% possession. 16 shots with 7 on target against 3 shots (2 on target).

25/09/2025 (La Liga) – Real Oviedo/Barcelona: 1-3. In 4-2-3-1. 80% possession. 22 shots with 10 on target against 7 shots (3 on target).

28/09/2025 (La Liga) – Barcelona/Real Sociedad: 2-1. In 4-2-3-1. 75% possession. 22 shots with 12 on target against 7 shots (2 on target).

The probable team in 4-3-3.

Lewandowski

Rashford – Olmo – Yamal

Pedri – De Jong

Martin – Cubarsi – Araujo – Koundé

Szczęsny

The style of play of Barcelona.

Without a doubt, Hansi Flick is offensive-minded. Preferably, with the ball and a lot of rhythm. This without being afraid to play very high, setting the offside trap with the defensive line. This can help to suffocate the opponent. But there are some flaws sometimes and this could hurt if PSG is in form. An adaptation is also conceivable, even if we do not see Barça and its German coach putting aside their philosophy.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.