European champion meets European champion at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday evening, when Paris Saint-Germain welcome Tottenham Hotspur to their illustrious home in the Champions League league phase.
The contest is a repeat of this year's UEFA Super Cup, which the Ligue 1 giants won on penalties, but travelling fans may be fearing a more comprehensive defeat this time around.
Match preview
PSG suffered the first dent in their Champions League title defence just three weeks ago, when the winning machine of Bayern Munich left the French capital with a 2-1 victoryunder their belts, despite playing the entire second half with 10 men.
Luis Diaz bagged a double before being sent off for a crunching challenge on Achraf Hakimi - which the Moroccan still has not fully recovered from - but PSG could not capitalise on their numerical advantage, only managing to cut the deficit in half through Joao Neves.
Despite no longer boasting a perfect record in this season's competition, PSG enter matchweek five still comfortably on course for automatic last-16 qualification, sitting fifth in the 36-team table and within touching distance of Bayern, Arsenal and Inter Milan.
Les Parisiens have also never suffered back-to-back Champions League home defeats in their history, and Luis Enrique's men have responded to their Bayern beating with successive Ligue 1 successes, although their 3-2 win over Lyon was shrouded in refereeing controversy.
However, there was nothing contentious about Les Parisiens' 3-0 triumph over Le Havre on Saturday - a result that kept them two points clear of Marseille and Lens at the top of the Ligue 1 table - but the reigning European champions are not quite the same force that obliterated Inter in the 2024-25 UCL final.
Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank pictured on October 29, 2025
PSG's loss of perennial dominance may not offer much comfort to Tottenham supporters, who filtered out of the Emirates Stadium en masse during the final 20 minutes of Sunday's North London derby, when an awesome Arsenal outwitted and outclassed their bitter rivals.
The script was written for Eberechi Eze to shine, but even he could hardly believe his historic hat-trick - the first-ever in a Premier League North London derby - against the team that chased him for much of the summer transfer window, as Spurs slumped to their third loss from their last five games.
Fingers were immediately pointed at Thomas Frank in the wake of that 4-1 trouncing, as the Dane's defence-heavy 5-2-3 setup was carved open at will by Arsenal, and it will be utterly fascinating to see what system he opts for in the French capital.
Unlike their more esteemed hosts, however, Spurs' unbeaten Champions League record remains intact after two wins and two draws from their opening four games this season, and the Lilywhites have also kept clean sheets in five of their last seven European matches at any level.
Both of Tottenham's UCL away matches this season have been drawn, though, and Frank's men were also bested by Enrique's side from 12 yards in the summer's UEFA Super Cup, falling to a 4-3 shootout loss after a gripping 2-2 stalemate in Udine.
Paris Saint-Germain Champions League form:
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Tottenham Hotspur Champions League form:
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Team News
Tottenham Hotspur's Xavi Simons pictured on September 17, 2025
Diaz's red card-worthy tackle on Hakimi has rendered the Moroccan right-back unavailable ever since, and the 2025 African Footballer of the Year is not expected back from that ankle injury for another few weeks.
Les Parisiens are also managing without two attacking heroes in Desire Doue (hamstring) and Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembele (calf), but Bradley Barcola and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia are both fit and raring to go after being restricted to substitute outings on Saturday.
Enrique is also expected to recall midfield maestro Fabian Ruiz and integral defender Willian Pacho to the first XI, which should feature Warren Zaire-Emery as an auxiliary right-back in Hakimi's absence.
As for the visitors, Frank's attack will also be depleted thanks to the absence of Brennan Johnson, who is suspended on account of his red card in the 4-0 win over Copenhagen.
The Wales international - who became the first British player to score and be sent off in the same UCL game - joins James Maddison (ACL), Radu Dragusin (ACL), Kota Takai (thigh), Dejan Kulusevski (knee), Dominic Solanke (ankle), Yves Bissouma (ankle) and Mathys Tel (ineligible) on the sidelines this week, but veteran defender Ben Davies might be back from a thigh problem.
Frank sacrificed ex-PSG starlet Xavi Simons for an extra defender in Kevin Danso at the weekend, but after that formula failed miserably, the visiting manager could now revert to a more familiar system with the Dutchman pulling the strings.
Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:
Chevalier; Zaire-Emery, Zabarnyi, Pacho, Mendes; Ruiz, Vitinha, Neves; Lee, Barcola, Kvaratskhelia
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie; Palhinha, Sarr; Kudus, Simons, Richarlison; Kolo Muani
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We say: Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 Tottenham Hotspur
After trying to frustrate Arsenal to no avail at the weekend, Tottenham may feel that going for broke is their best chance of success on Wednesday, especially against a PSG side missing three cornerstones of their starting XI.
However, Spurs have struggled to build out from the back all season long, and even a Dembele, Doue and Hakimi-less PSG should cruise to victory on their own turf.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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