Barcelona's Champions League trip to Paris has lost its defensive spine before a ball is kicked. The club has confirmed that defenders Jules Koundé and Eric García were injured in or after Sunday's 5-2 La Liga win over Real Betis, ruling both out of Tuesday's league-phase headline tie against Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes.
García's thigh injury is the costlier blow: three to four weeks out costs him not only the PSG match but Sunday's El Clásico against Real Madrid as well. Barcelona still travel on an 11-match winning streak in all competitions, with nine European goals scored and a perfect six points from two games — a record PSG match exactly.
PSG have their own absence, with Nuno Mendes set to miss out, and coach Luis Enrique used Monday's press conference to set out his plan for Lamine Yamal: possession as defence. The best way to defend against the teenager, Enrique said, is to keep the ball, describing Barcelona as a team with a similar identity to his own side, who beat Manchester City 4-2 on Matchday 2.
Matchday 3 runs Tuesday and Wednesday with 18 games. Tuesday's early kick-offs are Fenerbahçe against Slavia Prague and Sabah against Borussia Dortmund, with Liverpool hosting Villarreal, Manchester City facing AEK Athens, Napoli meeting Bodø/Glimt, Porto playing PSV, Roma against Slovan Bratislava and Stuttgart against Atlético Madrid.
Wednesday is headlined by Bayern Munich against Arsenal, alongside Real Madrid against RB Leipzig, Inter against Shakhtar Donetsk, Aston Villa against Viking, Real Betis against Feyenoord, Club Brugge against Lens and Sporting CP against LASK, after early games between Como and Manchester United and Lille and Galatasaray.
