Paris Saint-Germain manager Luis Enrique could only admire the spectacle on display Wednesday night at the Olympic Stadium.

What he saw was his PSG side rally for victory against his former team Barcelona to secure a 2-1 win and a perfect record in the Champions League after two matches of the league phase.

Gonçalo Ramos capped the comeback in second-half stoppage time in front of a stunned home crowd, who saw their team lose its first match of the season and for the third time in a row at home to PSG following defeats in the 2021 and 2024 Champions League knockout rounds.

“We’ve seen an excellent game,” Luis Enrique said. “When you see two teams who don’t kick each other, who go out to play and to do damage with the ball, you get a really good spectacle. [Barcelona] were better until their goal. We recovered well. We were better in the second half.

“We played really well. It was difficult at first. Barcelona have a lot of quality. We made mistakes in the first 20 minutes. We were better after the break, we deserved it. It’s a big win. It’s always hard playing against Barça. It’s an important win for confidence. Last year, we struggled in the league phase.”

The game also highlighted the stellar play of PSG outside backs Achraf Hakimi, who set up Ramos for the winning goal, and Nuno Mendes, who assisted on PSG’s opening goal and largely shut down Barça star Lamine Yamal in the second half.

Yamal got off to a promising start Wednesday, awing the crowd with a great run just minutes into the match at Montjuic stadium. But he couldn’t do much more after that, with the 23-year-old Mendes containing him most of the time.

“I’m very pleased to see the younger players thriving in this match; learning, playing well, impressing our fans,” Luis Enrique said after the match. “We consistently play rivals of a really high level. The most important thing for me is our DNA, our attitude — as a squad and as a club — and that’s what we saw today.”

The 18-year-old Yamal made his first start for Barcelona since August because of an injury sustained while playing with Spain’s national team during the international break in September. He came off the bench for the Catalan club in its 2-1 win against Real Sociedad in LaLiga on Sunday.

PSG is the the first team to win three straight road games against Barcelona in major European competitions, while Hansi Flick’s side was looking to win a sixth consecutive match across all competitions.

Luis Enrique did not want to read too much into the result with just two rounds of the Champions League played thus far, and a good chance his team will see Barcelona at some point down the line as the tournament progresses.

“This is just one result so in no case [does it prove anything],” Luis Enrique said. “Barça are among the candidates to win the Champions League. They play really well. They are a top level side. This is just the start of the competition. There are six games left; we will see what happens.

“But I have no doubts because I like how they play. There are not many teams with a clear identity like theirs. Barça are clearly among the favourites with us. But it’s just getting started. Let’s see how everyone arrives to the knockout rounds.”

ESPN’s Sam Marsden and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

INDIANAPOLIS — Veteran cornerback Xavien Howard signed with the Indianapolis Colts in August hoping to revive his career after a year away from the NFL.

Now, after four games, the four-time Pro Bowl selection has decided to abruptly reverse course.

Howard, 32, informed the Colts on Wednesday of his decision to retire on the heels of a much-criticized performance against the Los Angeles Rams and star receiver Puka Nacua on Sunday. Howard was not at practice Wednesday, but the team’s injury report indicated he was absent because of a personal matter.

In a statement posted to social media, Howard wrote that “my dream has now changed” and he is “no longer willing” to put football before his family.

“My purpose has been fulfilled in this sport, but my kids are more important to me than football,” he wrote. “I’ve had a hell of a career, and even though it’s ending in a unique way, I’m cool with that because for once I’m putting my family first and I’m proud and excited about that decision.”

Coach Shane Steichen and defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo had fielded repeated questions since the game about their intentions moving forward with Howard, who had been starting as an outside cornerback for Indianapolis since Week 1. Neither coach indicated any plan to make a lineup change.

Asked Wednesday whether he might discuss a personnel change, Steichen left the door open for Howard to remain in the lineup. There was no indication the Colts were considering releasing Howard prior to his retirement decision.

“As the head coach, obviously, I have final decision on all those things and we have those conversations throughout the week,” Steichen said. “Looking back, too, with Xavien, those were two elite receivers [Nacua and Davante Adams] that we were going up against last week. So, again, we’ll go through the process this week and evaluate everything like we do every week.”

Howard’s struggles Sunday were inexplicable. According to Next-Gen Stats, he was the nearest defender on seven receptions that produced 112 yards and a touchdown. The Colts elected to use No. 1 cornerback Charvarius Ward mostly against Adams, but Adams also made a play during one of his rare snaps lined up against Howard. Nacua finished with 13 catches for 170 yards — both season highs.

Asked after the Rams game whether he felt quarterback Matthew Stafford was targeting him, Howard said, “I don’t. It’s football at the end of the day.” Asked to evaluate his performance, he said, “Not to my ability.”

The struggles in Los Angeles followed a tough outing in Week 2 against the Denver Broncos, when Howard was flagged twice for pass interference and once for defensive holding.

In spite of his ending, Howard walks away from the NFL with an impressive track record. He twice led the NFL in interceptions during his time with the Miami Dolphins, who drafted him in the second round in 2016. In 2020, when he had a career year with league highs in interceptions (10) and passes defensed (20), he was a first-team All-Pro and a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year.

Howard has 29 career interceptions, third among active players behind Harrison Smith and Kevin Byard III. He started 103 career games.

The Big Ten is in discussions about a private capital deal that would infuse at least $2 billion into the league and its schools, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.

The discussions include a 10-year extension of the league’s grant of rights until 2046, sources told ESPN, which would ensure long-term stability in the Big Ten.

According to sources, the private capital deal and grant of rights extension have been discussed for months and presented in multiple forms. A deal and the grant of rights extension would also be a distinct blow to the outside entities attempting to form super leagues around college sports.

While there is support from nearly the entire league, according to sources, a few of the league’s biggest brands — including Ohio State and Michigan — are still in discussions with the league. The aim is to have unanimous support before a vote, sources told ESPN.

A decision on the private capital deal is expected in the upcoming weeks from the schools in the Big Ten, sources said, and nothing is considered imminent or certain. There are three different private capital entities being considered by the Big Ten, sources told ESPN, and the league has not taken a vote on any plan.

Like most businesses, athletic departments can always use more money to cover ever-increasing costs. The need is particularly acute now for schools with middle and lower revenues within the league after the NCAA’s recent settlement of legal cases that has led to direct revenue sharing with athletes.

The setup being discussed, sources said, is that this will essentially be the formation of a new commercial entity within the Big Ten that would house all revenue generation such as media rights, sponsorships and league revenue streams.

The working title for the new entity is Big Ten Enterprises, sources told ESPN.

The private capital company would get money back through the new entity through annual distribution in proportion to its financial stake. The Big Ten will essentially have 20 equity shares, comprising the 18 schools, the league and this investor.

Sources told ESPN that this setup eliminates the need to give an outside investor a specific portion of control over decisions or board seats, something that college presidents have generally been uncomfortable with.

“Think of it this way — the conference is not selling a piece of the conference,” a league source told ESPN. “Traditional conference functions would remain 100 percent with the conference office — scheduling, officiating and championships. The new entity being created would focus on business development, and it would include an outside investor with a small financial stake.”

One of the philosophies behind the proposed move, which is being shepherded by Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti, is that the league believes its ability to generate revenue holistically has been underserved, and it would be sharing a small percentage of greater profits with the outside investor.

It also helps the league potentially better scale and leverage its 18 members.

Another source familiar with the Big Ten’s discussions summed it up this way: “We’re underselling the strength of what we do the way we are structured. This is a way to organize ourselves better.”

As a micro example of that, Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen was quoted in an Associated Press article last week on the looming discussion of teams wearing corporate logos on their jersey: “If you jump in now, and I’m going to get a little bit [of money] because of the jersey patches. I would really like to see if there’s an opportunity for our conference to put all those jersey patch rights together and, all of a sudden, they’re worth a whole lot more to the institutions when 18 are playing instead of just one.”

The potentially groundbreaking plan, which has been presented across the 18-member conference over the past few months, calls for immediate cash payments to each school, the amount based on a formula that factors in numerous variables including current budgets.

The amount of those payments is still being discussed, but the basic format, sources told ESPN, is believed to be tiered. All schools in the league are expected to receive at least a nine-figure amount up front.

The final financial details are still being discussed as universities with bigger brands are expected to receive more money.

“Our membership has clearly expressed the need to modernize the operations and structure of our conference to ensure that the Big Ten remains best positioned to offer the highest level of athletic and academic excellence in a rapidly evolving landscape,” a Big Ten spokesperson told ESPN in a statement when asked about the private capital.

“Over a year ago, we initiated a comprehensive evaluation of our practices to identify partnerships that could secure the financial stability of our member institutions and allow us to not only protect, but expand, opportunities for our student-athletes. This is an ongoing process, and we remain committed to finding a path that strengthens the conference for the future.”