Category World News

Who: Paris Saint-Germain vs. Barcelona
What: League phase, UEFA Champions League
Where: Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, in Barcelona, Spain
When: Wednesday, October 1, at 9pm (19:00 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 16:00 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream.

When Paris Saint-Germain, who are currently defending champions, travels to the Olympic Stadium on Wednesday to take on five-time champion Barcelona, two of Europe’s top super teams will square off in the opening leg of a Matchday 2 UEFA Champions League (UCL) game.

Both teams have a strong start to the new year: PSG defeated Atalanta 4-0 to start their title defense, and Barca defeated Newcastle United 2-1 in their opening league game.

Before the biggest Champions League game to date, this is everything:

recent form of Barcelona

The Catalans won the match 2-1 thanks to Jules Kounde and Robert Lewandowski turning the tables on either side of halftime with goals that scored either side of halftime to lift them above La Liga.

The reigning champions now have 19 points, one point ahead of Real Madrid, with their sixth win in seven games.

“It was a team victory,” the statement read. They were well-versed in the game, and it was difficult, but Barcelona deserved it, according to coach Hansi Flick.

Barcelona also defeated Barcelona at home in Champions League games to end the 2024-25 season.

recent form of PSG

At the top of the French Ligue 1, PSG are 15 points clear of Lyon.

Their only defeat of the season came on September 22 when they lost to Marseille, winning 1-0. Nayef Aguerd’s opener from close range was the club’s first league victory away from PSG since 2011.

PSG’s early-season injuries

Injury problems have hampered PSG’s new European campaign, with Ousmane Dembele, a superstar striker and 2025 Ballon d’Or winner, playing until mid-October with a right hamstring strain.

Both Desire Doue, a highly skilled attacking player, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, a fellow winger, are out until at least early October with a right calf strain, which will further devastate the PSG front line.

What transpired during Barcelona’s most recent encounter with PSG?

The last time the two teams met was on April 16, 2024, when PSG won a stunning comeback against Barcelona 4-1 away in the second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal, clinching a spot in the 2023-24 tournament with a 6-4 aggregate victory.

In one of Raphinha’s final games, PSG advanced to the semifinals against Borussia Dortmund thanks to Ronald Araujo’s sending off before goals from Ousmane Dembele, Vitinha, and Kylian Mbappe’s brace in one of the Frenchman’s final appearances for the club.

In the 2024-2019 season, how many titles did PSG win?

The Paris club won four major awards, including the UEFA Champions League, Coupe de France, Trophee des Champions, and Ligue 1, to cap off the team’s 55-year history.

In the June FIFA Club World Cup, they also finished second to Chelsea.

news from the Barcelona team

The Brazilian winger, who has a hamstring injury, is the biggest name that Flick’s home side has missed. Raphinha is the biggest player.

Joan Garcia (knee), Gavi (knee), Fermin Lopez (back), and Marc-Andre ter Stegen (back), the first-choice goalkeeper, are also absent.

In the starting XI, Wojciech Szczesny will replace Ter Stegen, with Gerald Martin most likely to fill in Garcia’s place.

Star winger Lamine Yamal is expected to make his debut for the Catalans for the first time since suffering a groin injury for four games as a huge bonus. In the team’s Sunday victory over Real Sociedad, he started in place.

PSG team news

With wing scoring threat Doue and talisman forward Dembele out with injuries since early September, coach Luis Enrique will have few offensive options.

The scoring burden will fall on French international Bradley Barcola, who will take the place of Kvaratskhelia, who is also unable to play.

Marquinhos, a center-back from Brazil, will also miss the game with a left thigh issue.

Enrique had some good news to report on Tuesday that Joao Neves and Vitinha, who had previously been injured and who was third in the Ballon d’Or earlier this month, were both named.

Barcelona’s starting lineup is anticipated

Szczesny (goalkeeper), Kounde, Cubarsi, Araujo, Martin, Pedri, De Jong, Yamal, Olmo, Rashford, Lewandowski, and Zack o’Brien.

Starting lineup was predicted by PSG.

Chevalier (goalkeeper), Zabarnyi, Pacho, Mendes, Lee, Vitinha, Zaire-Emery, Mbaye, Ramos, Barcola

Head-to-head:

• 13 matches total
• Barcelona defeats them 5-1.
• PSG wins 4-3.
• Draws – 4

Last five games:

Barcelona: W-W-W-W (All competitions, last result)
• PSG: W-W-W-L-W

What the coaches said:

Enrique (PSG): “Watching a game between Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain with five or six significant players from both teams not playing… to me it’s a shame, for the manager, [Hans] Flick, and for fans of both teams,” Enrique said.

Flick (Barcelona): “I think]the amount of injuries] is not normal for us, but some injuries just happen. We are looking at what we can do better, we will look at everything and every training, and we’ll see what [will] happen and if we have to adapt.”

What division of the UEFA Champions League will be playing in 2026?

The expanded league phase, which now includes 36 teams all ranked in a single big-league table, is in its second year. It replaced the previous group phase, which divided groups into smaller cohorts.

Each team plays eight games against rivals from other countries to determine the league standings overall.

After Matchday 8, the top eight teams advance to the knockout stage, and the teams placed between ninth and 24th place then participate in a two-legged playoff to reach the knockout stage. The tournament’s bottom 12 clubs are eliminated.

When are the UEFA Champions League matches in the league phase 2025-26?

• Matchday 1: September 16-18, 2025
• Matchday 2: September 30-October 1, 2025
• Matchday 3: October 21-22, 2025
• Matchday 4: November 4-5, 2025
• Matchday 5: November 25-26, 2025
• Matchday 6: December 9-10, 2025
• Matchday 7: January 20-21, 2026
• Matchday 8: January 28, 2026

Where is the 2025-26 Champions League championship match?

On May 30 in Budapest, Hungary, will the UEFA Champions League final take place.

London, United Kingdom – How much trouble is Keir Starmer in? How long has the UK prime minister got to turn things around?

That those questions are being reasonably asked is sort of extraordinary.

Little more than a year ago, in July 2024, Starmer led Labour to a landslide victory. Labour became by far the biggest party in the House of Commons, with 411 seats, a majority of 174.

That is such a significant majority that it was widely assumed that Labour, and Starmer, would get at least two terms – 10 years – to impose their vision of the UK after 14 years of the Conservatives.

Instead, polls have the rebel Reform, previously viewed as a protest party, on track to win the next election on the back of rising anger about the economy and immigration.

One poll, the Sunday Times MRP survey released in recent days, has Starmer as the most unpopular PM ever.

As the Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham makes noises about mounting a leadership bid, it is possible that Starmer is removed before the next election. That is due in 2029, unless the premier, whoever that may be, decides to call one early.

Retired teacher Chris Francis, who voted for Starmer’s Labour, told Al Jazeera: “The biggest thing that he promised was change. That was literally his campaign slogan. And yet nothing much has changed. Wages are rising higher than inflation, but it doesn’t feel like it for many people. I agree he isn’t the worst PM ever – but he failed to manage expectations before he got elected.”

Starmer’s woes fall into three categories – practical challenges, poor optics and scandals.

The scandals are to do with tax he and his now departed deputy, Angela Rayner, did, or did not pay, on property.

Starmer bought a field at the back of his parents’ house for 20,000 pounds ($27,000) so they could keep donkeys. He later sold it for 300,000 pounds ($400,000), and it is unclear whether he avoided tax. He says he did not, but the picture is murky.

On its own, this case would be trivial, but it fits a narrative. Starmer, a highly successful barrister, was supposed to bring lawyerly, scholarly decency to the role of prime minister.

Instead, he looks like a man struggling to explain either the law or what he intends to do for the people who voted for him.

On a practical level, Labour has lost the confidence of the business community it strove so hard to win over before the election.

In particular, a rise in the National Insurance tax employers pay for staff has led to job cuts, especially in the already struggling hospitality sector. As a result, unemployment is rising, while the number of job vacancies is falling.

‘Unremittingly bad’ unpopularity

James Crouch at opinion pollster Opinium said Starmer’s premiership could be “fatally wounded”.

“Starmer’s ratings really are extraordinary. That level of unpopularity is unremittingly bad, and what’s striking is that we’ve almost forgotten how we got here,” he said.

The biggest challenge Starmer faces is undocumented immigration, which successive governments have struggled to deal with.

And, despite lots of promises about building more homes, progress has been slow. Labour now says it will build 1.5 million new homes by 2029. Figures show planning approvals for new homes in England fell to a record low this year.

In addition, Starmer appears to be in danger of appealing to almost no one.

To several members of his party and a number of his MPs, he is not left-wing enough.

To business, he has been too left-wing.

And to the man on the street, he is not getting to grips with undocumented immigration, which has led to the extraordinary rise of Reform, led by Nigel Farage.

Farage is convinced he will be the next PM, with reason; polls put Reform 12 points over Labour.

Regarding the economy, James Bentley, director at Financial Markets Online, warned that business sentiment remains weak, despite a recent boost in the form of incoming investment deals by United States firms to the tune of 150 billion pounds ($200bn), which were announced during US President Donald Trump’s state visit.

“Baleful economic numbers will be causing rising panic behind closed doors on Downing Street,” he said. “Things are going from bad to worse for Britain’s manufacturers, with manufacturing output now contracting at the fastest rate since March. Demand for British goods has weakened among both domestic and overseas buyers.

“Meanwhile, many employers are facing high wage pressure, and the combination of squeezed margins and falling demand is increasingly toxic.”

Political experts say Labour came into power unprepared, that the party had a plan to win, but not to govern. A negative narrative has taken hold, even in areas where that might be unfair, because Labour has struggled to get its message across.

The economy is not that bad, compared with other European countries, and anger over immigration is hardly unique to the UK.

Giles Kenningham of London political consultants Trafalgar Strategy said, “[Starmer] is not helped by the fact that there is an obvious successor in Andy Burnham. What is against him is that he won on a Tory collapse, not a Labour revival. That is bearing out now.

“There was no definition to where he was going. There was no great story to sell. He needs something to bind people together, something they are aiming towards. And there isn’t. What is Starmerism? They haven’t defined that.”

What is clear is that the patience for Starmer’s promised changes is wearing thin.

Writing in the Financial Times, NatWest Bank chairman Rick Haythornthwaite noted: “This is a tough time to be a politician of any persuasion.

Qatar says that it is ‘truly optimistic’ about US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan and that the Hamas delegation is studying it ‘responsibly’.

Employers must verify a worker’s status in order for the UK government to stop illegal immigration. Due to its effectiveness and privacy concerns, the scheme has received a lot of opposition. Ruby Zaman from Al Jazeera provides more information.