Barcelona hosting Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League has a big chance of being the best, most dramatic, thrilling match anywhere in the world this week.

Last time they met, 17 months ago, the Catalans won brilliantly in the French capital and the Parisians replied with a punishing victory in Barcelona. That tit-for-tat battle treated us to 10 goals while former Barça coach Luis Enrique inspired his new team through to the Champions League semifinals in his debut season.

Given that eight of the top 12 players in last week’s Ballon d’Or ranking were scheduled to decorate Wednesday’s match, there has been understandable focus on the injury lists: Raphinha, Gavi, Ousmane Dembélé, Marquinhos, Désiré Doué and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia all out; plus doubts of varying degrees surround João Neves, Fabián Ruiz and Vitinha.

But this is a meeting that can leave participants in tatters, irrespective of the physical or mental state in which they approach it.

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Of the three I have in mind, only two are scheduled to go toe-to-toe again this time: Luis Enrique and Ronald Araújo. The other is Xavi Hernández, who, defeated and sent off on the night in April last year, only coached the club he passionately loves for seven more matches before they sacked him.

With that glimpse of Champions League glory (a potential semifinal against Borussia Dortmund and what would, hypothetically, have been Barça’s third Wembley final, this time a Clásico against Real Madrid lay ahead) while leading 4-2 on aggregate with 72% of the tie played, Xavi’s hopes of keeping his job disappeared. Such are the vagaries of football management.

However, it’s the two survivors who should interest you.

Since that season, since knocking out the club he adores, at which he’s a socio (club member), and the club where he won 16 trophies as player and coach across 14 years, Luis Enrique is à la mode, as the French would say. He’s won nine of the 11 trophies available to PSG over two incredible years, including his second treble, and, as recently as last week, won the Ballon d’Or-Johan Cruyff Trophy 2025 as coach of the year by a landslide. But what subsequently went completely unnoticed is how much it cost him, and his family, to go through that 2024 ordeal of eliminating Barcelona from the Champions League.

I’m fortunate to count him as a friend and he was generous with his time, and our access, when, at that very moment, we were filming our “No Teneis Ni P— Idea” (“You Have No F—ing Idea”) documentary about him. A couple of days after Araújo was sent off in the second leg and PSG ran riot, turning a 4-2 deficit into a 6-4 aggregate win, we fulfilled a pre-agreed shoot with Luis Enrique in his office at PSG’s huge, modern and rather soulless Poissy campus. It’s a new build, it boasts fantastic facilities and it’s the HQ from which PSG planned, and effected, their thrilling all-out assault on European domination.

But it’s vast, it can feel like a cavernous, empty movie set. That gray afternoon, there were hardly any people about, the mood was somber and he simply told us the truth as he felt it then; times have changed, but this was a stark picture of a man’s affections divided and the cost of doing his job brilliantly.

That day, he told us: “I never want to have to face Barça again in the next 10 years. Not once! For my sake and for the family!”

He added: “It was ‘heavy’ for my family, for my friends, for me. Wow! Too much!”

The truth that emerged is that although he hails from the beautiful city of Gijón in the northern region of Asturias, Barcelona and its environs are his true home now and always will be. Moreover, the affection he and all his family hold for the Blaugrana club is deeply engrained.

Luis Enrique’s nearest family, his Catalan wife and two children, admitted that they were deeply conflicted about attending the second leg given their premonitions about it developing into a no-win situation. Get knocked out and it’s heartbreak for their husband and father, progress and there was bound to be a hangover feeling.

Enter stage right the other loser from that night: Araújo.

Luis Enrique and his PSG analysts identified the Uruguay international as good … but not good enough if the correct pressure points were pushed. In a scene that he allowed us to use in the documentary (the title of which the PSG fans used for the banner welcoming Luis Enrique back to Parc de Princes following his Ballon d’Or-Johan Cruyff Trophy win), he dictates to his players precisely how he wants them to isolate and then exploit Araujo’s weaknesses.

During the team meeting the night before the match at Montjuïc, the PSG coach told his players: “This gentleman is Araújo. A top-level footballer. No question. But the Barça player with the most problems.

“Every time the ball goes towards him, in whatever situation, while the ball’s still in movement we’re already closing his passing line and then pressing him. We let Araújo come out with the ball. Whenever he does that, we isolate him, and we press him.”

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Video evidence showed that Araújo was eager to get on the ball, a wholehearted leader and defender, but deficient in his use of possession when pressed. Prone to getting rid, rather than remaining calm. So PSG closed down other passes for Marc-André ter Stegen and the rest of the home defenders, steered the ball to the Uruguayan’s feet, and then sprung the trap. It was brutal.

In less than half an hour, the prize arrived. Araújo, on the ball, unaware PSG had steered this into happening, was pressed and gifted a wayward pass to the PSG midfield, Bradley Barcola set off on a sprint toward Barça’s goalmouth and, then, a last-man foul from the harassed and no doubt embarrassed Uruguayan resulted. Free kick, red card and the balance of the entire tie tilted. Precisely as Luis Enrique had predicted.

Postmatch, Xavi lamented that competing 10 vs. 11 at that level, against a rival like PSG, was practically impossible. Luis Enrique deserves an NB (good note) here.

He also demonstrated to his obedient team that PSG could (would) easily score from the edge of the box because of how Barcelona defended (this also happened) and inspired the type of (rare) pressing from Kylian Mbappé that coaches, including Xabi Alonso at the moment, have tried in vain to draw from the brilliant striker. PSG romped home, and when they finally made things safe, at 4-1 with a minute left, Luis Enrique let out a little of the bottled-up emotion he was feeling.

The next day, in fact days, were full of nasty, venomous, studs-in vitriol from Catalan media and social media, including comments like: “That was Mourinho-style behavior,” “Neither Xavi nor Pep Guardiola would ever celebrate coaching a win against Barcelona like that” and “Disgraceful, a complete lack of respect.”

Disappointment often channels itself as anger and vitriol, but this was over the top and did damage. Araújo’s confidence and reputation were both badly hit and, ironically, it’s only really now that his importance to the team and self-belief have been fully restored.

On that dank, quiet, reflective afternoon in Poissy, Luis Enrique told us: “Those were two brutal weeks. For the family too … well everyone, naturally. Really hard, emotionally. We were burned out. I’m in pieces.

“Honestly, for me it would’ve been much easier playing against Madrid! Much! All of that, even though we won. I’d hate to think about if it had finished badly. No way. I’d rather not have played them.”

Now here he goes again. New rival in the Barça dugout, defending champion, injury-hit team but up against the club he (deep in his heart) feels strong emotion for. Not a knockout this time, granted, but loads and loads on the line. Emotions, pride and how he’s greeted by the Catalan fans and media, not least.

A federal judge has allowed the Pac-12 Conference’s lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference over $55 million in “poaching fees” to go forward.

Northern District of California Senior Judge Claudia Wilken denied the Mountain West’s motion to dismiss the case on Tuesday. She set an initial case management conference for Nov. 18.

“The Pac-12 Conference is pleased that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied the Mountain West Conference’s motion to dismiss,” the Pac-12 said in a statement. “We will move forward with our case. The ruling allows our antitrust and related claims to proceed. We remain confident in our position and focused on advancing academic excellence, athletic achievement, and the tradition that has defined the Pac-12 for more than a century.”

The conferences failed to reach an agreement by a July deadline for mediation, and the Pac-12 requested the hearing on a pending motion to dismiss.

The Pac-12 and some of its new schools filed lawsuits last year, claiming the poaching clause it agreed to when it signed a scheduling agreement for its football teams for last season was invalid.

The clause called for payments to the Mountain West of $10 million for the first team that left, with the amount growing by $500,000 for every additional team. That was on top of the $17 million plus exit fees that schools were responsible for as part of a different agreement.

The Mountain West said in a statement that its lawyers were reviewing the judge’s decision.

Colorado State, Utah State, San Diego State, Fresno State and Boise State are set to leave the Mountain West and join the Pac-12 starting in 2026. The conference added Texas State in June to reach the eight-team minimum to be eligible for an automatic bid for its champion in the College Football Playoff.

Oregon State and Washington State are the only remaining Pac-12 members following an exodus last year that threatened the conference’s future. The two schools reached a scheduling agreement with the Mountain West so they could piece together a football schedule last season.

The Mountain West has added UTEP, Hawaii and Northern Illinois for football starting in 2026.

Boise State, Colorado State and Utah State also filed an updated lawsuit against the Mountain West last month, alleging it improperly withheld millions of dollars and misled them about a plan to accelerate Grand Canyon’s membership.

Liverpool coach Arne Slot has confirmed goalkeeper Alisson Becker will miss this weekend’s clash with Chelsea after sustaining an injury in his team’s 1-0 defeat to Galatasaray.

The Brazil international was replaced by Giorgi Mamardashvili in the 56th minute after appearing to pick up a knock at Rams Park. He is now set to be ruled out of Saturday’s trip to Stamford Bridge, with further assessment of his injury to take place in the coming days.

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“It’s never positive if you go off like this,” Slot told Amazon Prime Video after the game. “You can be sure he’s not going to play on Saturday.”

Alisson has had spells out injured in each of the past two seasons. Last season, he was out for more than two months — from early October to mid-December — with a hamstring problem.

It was a disappointing night for Liverpool in Istanbul, with Galatasaray winning thanks to a first-half penalty from Victor Osimhen after Dominik Szoboszlai was adjudged to have committed a foul in the box.

The Reds also lost striker Hugo Ekitike to injury as the forward limped off midway through the second half.

“He felt something when he had to reach for the ball,” added Slot in his news conference.

“After the game, that’s always the difficult thing with these moments when players feel like it is not too bad, but when you just walk around it is something different than when you make a sprint or have to shoot on target.

“He said he couldn’t continue so we had to take him off. Let’s see how he is for the weekend.”

The injuries compounded a disappointing evening for Liverpool, who have now lost consecutive games for just the second time in Slot’s tenure following a defeat at Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday.

“Again, disappointed,” the Liverpool boss said. “For me, this was a different performance on and off the ball [than Crystal Palace]. First half we played quite well and had a big chance to go up 1-0.

“It is difficult to compare this situation to before. We are sometimes a bit outsmarted in situations like this, and I cannot blame Dominik Szoboszlai for the situation. They make a 20% penalty a 100% penalty, which is very smart from them.

“We are not so far [off the level shown last season]. This is sometimes what the schedule can bring, Galatasaray is not a simple game. We now play Chelsea away, a difficult game.”

Slot added: “The margins are small, and they were last season. For the second time in a row, we are on the wrong side.

“I saw a lot of things in the first half, but the second half was much less. I don’t think in the second half there was a lot of playing time. Their striker was on the floor four or five times. It was difficult to get momentum in the game.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.