Paris Saint-Germain target 10th straight win at Villarreal in Champions League

Paris Saint-Germain will look to maintain their perfect Champions League record when they visit Villarreal at the Estadio de la Ceramica on Tuesday, in the clubs’ first meeting.

The defending champions are one of only five teams still unbeaten in the competition. They followed a 6-1 victory over Slovan Bratislava with 4-2 wins against Manchester City and Barcelona, the latter coming on matchday three. Villarreal are 19th with three points after a 4-3 defeat by Liverpool.

Villarreal are competing in their sixth Champions League campaign and have produced spectacular, if inconsistent, finishes this season. At least four goals have been scored in each of their first three league-phase matches, with their only victory coming at home against Napoli, when they recovered to win 3-1.

Their defensive record is a concern. Villarreal have conceded in 14 successive Champions League matches and have allowed an average of 3.8 goals per game across their last 10 fixtures in the competition.

Inigo Perez’s side have dropped points in two consecutive home matches in all competitions. However, they can win two successive Champions League games at El Madrigal for the first time since 2008. They have also failed to win their last two league-phase matches after leading at half-time, including their defeat at Anfield on matchday three.

The Yellow Submarine are unbeaten in their previous two Champions League meetings with French clubs: they beat Lille 1-0 at home in 2005-06 and drew 0-0 in France that season.

PSG have scored 14 goals after three matches, matching Arsenal’s total from 2010-11 for the joint-highest tally at that stage. They can win their opening four group matches for the first time since 2019 and extend their club-record unbeaten Champions League run, currently 13 games.

Luis Enrique recorded his 127th competitive victory as PSG manager on Monday, a club record. His team have won their last nine matches in all competitions, while conceding no more than once in four of their past five away games.

PSG have won only one of their last three league-phase away matches, but have not lost a Champions League group or league-phase game in Spain since a 1-0 defeat by Real Madrid in November 2015.

Nathan Saliba, Alassane Diatta, Juan Foyth and Ilias Akhomach are doubts for Villarreal because of muscular problems. Santiago Mourino and Tani Oluwaseyi have scored twice each in the competition, while Sergi Cardona and Georges Mikautadze were also on target against Liverpool.

PSG are without Marquinhos and Ousmane Dembele because of hamstring strains, while Nuno Mendes and Alessandro Longoni have leg injuries. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is sidelined with a cruciate ligament rupture. Ferran Torres and Dembele lead PSG’s scoring in the league phase with three goals each, while Desire Doue has scored in consecutive Champions League matches.

Predicted line-ups

Villarreal: Gulacsi; Mourino, Navarro, Veiga, Cardona; Comesana, Gueye; Oluwaseyi; Buchanan, Mikautadze, Moleiro.

Paris Saint-Germain: Safonov; Hakimi, Beraldo, Pacho, Hernandez; Zaire-Emery, Vitinha, Fernandez; Doue, Torres, Akliouche.

The listed match predictions are a PSG win with fewer than 4.5 goals at 2.20, Desire Doue to score or assist at 1.80, and Achraf Hakimi to score or assist at 2.75.

Villarreal’s defensive vulnerabilities leave PSG well placed to claim a 10th consecutive victory.