Who: Manchester City vs Paris Saint-Germain What: UEFA Champions League, matchday 2 Where: City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, United Kingdom When: Wednesday, October 14, at 8pm (19:00 GMT) How to follow: Al Jazeera Sport will bring you all the build-up and live updates from 16:00 GMT.
After being found guilty of an unprecedented breach of the Premier League’s financial rules, Manchester City turn their focus to the Champions League this week, as they host two-time holders PSG on matchday two.
Fans will have a golden opportunity to witness a mouthwatering battle between Erling Haaland, City’s lethal striker, and forward Ferran Torres, who is enjoying his new spell at PSG after helping Spain win the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Haaland has eight goals across all competitions; Torres has seven. On Wednesday, more could be added to those tallies in this round of the UCL.
After Tuesday’s league matches, PSG are ranked fifth while Man City are ninth.
Here’s everything to know about the clash:
Which financial rules have Man City breached?
An independent commission found City guilty of almost all of the 115 charges relating to breaches of Premier League financial regulations between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons, as well as three of four charges relating to failures to cooperate with the investigation.
No sanctions have been decided yet, but if City’s appeal fails, potential punishments include a significant point deduction and expulsion from the Premier League.
There is even the prospect of three Premier League titles being stripped from City, who won them from 2009 to 2018, the period to which the charges relate.
How have Man City played this season?
Man City have maintained a perfect record in the Premier League, winning all six matches.
Their only defeat across all competitions this season came in mid-August, when they lost to Arsenal in the Community Shield, the traditional curtain-raiser to the English football season.
How have PSG played this season?
PSG, who usually dominate Ligue 1 having won a record 14 titles, are fifth in the table, three points adrift of leaders Barcelona.
What happened in the first round of Champions League matches?
Reigning champions PSG thrashed Slovan Bratislava 6-1 at home in their first UCL match of the season, while Man City won 2-0 away to Porto in their campaign opener.
That keeps PSG fifth and Man City ninth in the league phase of this year’s Champions League.
The top eight teams at the end of the league phase qualify directly to the knockout rounds, which begin with the round of 16.
Man City vs PSG: Predictions
The Opta supercomputer has made City the favourites, with a win probability of 44.1 percent. PSG were given a 32 percent chance of winning, while a draw was estimated at a 23.9 percent likelihood.
Man City vs PSG: Head-to-head
(In the Champions League)
Matches: 7
Man City wins: 4
PSG wins: 2
Draws: 1
Man City vs PSG: Form guide
(Last five matches across all competitions, latest match first)
Man City: W-W-W-W-W
PSG: W-W-W-W-L
Who are the top players to watch?
Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki (Man City): Haaland’s six goals make him the Premier League’s leading scorer this season. His excellent form follows an equally impressive World Cup debut with Norway in North America. Haaland’s teammate Cherki is another vital City attacker with five goals and two assists in all competitions.
Ferran Torres and Marquinhos (PSG): Torres, whose extra-time goal guided Spain to the 2026 World Cup triumph, has made a quick start to life at his new club PSG, scoring seven goals in all competitions. That includes a hat-trick in PSG’s first UCL fixture. Meanwhile, captain Marquinhos has been an important presence in defence and has also scored three times.
Ferran Torres celebrates scoring the goal that won Spain the 2026 World Cup [AFP]
Did you know?
City are unbeaten at home against PSG (W3 D1), winning each of the last three games – most recently 2-1 on matchday 5 in 2021-22.
City also defeated PSG in the 2015-16 quarterfinals (2-2 away, 1-0 home) and the 2020-21 semifinals (2-1 away, 2-0 home).
City have lost only two of their last eight matches against French opponents (W5 D1), although they have won only one of their last four (D1 L2), drawing 2-2 at Monaco on Matchday 2 last season.
PSG are unbeaten in their last 11 matches against English teams (W8 D3), beating Aston Villa 2-1 in August’s UEFA Super Cup. Last season’s Champions League final against Arsenal is the only fixture in the last six they did not win in normal time.
A 2-0 victory at Liverpool in last season’s quarterfinal second leg was PSG’s third in succession in England.
Team news and predicted lineups
Man City team news
City have a fully fit squad for the match.
Predicted starting XI:
Gianluigi Donnarumma; Matheus Nunes, Marc Guehi, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol; Ayyoub Bouaddi, Enzo Fernandez; Phil Foden, Rayan Cherki, Antoine Semenyo; Erling Haaland
PSG team news
Senny Mayulu is out until late October with a thigh injury.
BBC The Split Up heated up in the final few moments tonight with fans having to wait until the weekend to find out how it plays out.
Hayley Anderson Screen Time TV Reporter
22:46, 28 Sep 2026
BBC’s The Split Up hid a tribute that many fans will have missed(Image: BBC)
BBC The Split Up fans may have missed the quiet tribute that the show paid to one of its biggest stars.
Legal drama The Split Up aired its fourth episode this evening, Monday, September 28, and Aria Kishan (played by Ritu Arya) once again had her hands full both personally and professionally.
After not being able to get hold of Uncle Rick (Ramon Tikaram), Dhruv Kishan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) asked Aria and Luke (Dimitri Leonidas) to visit him at the farm he was on the brink of losing.
When they arrived, Uncle Rick insisted there was a will that confirmed the farm had been handed to him and so all three of them searched the house. It was during this hunt that the BBC drama made a cute gesture for their Split Up co-star and Unforgotten legend Sanjeev Bhaskar.
Luke returned to the living room carrying a cardboard box and told Aria and Uncle Rick: “OK there’s not much in there except old books and about 30 VHS tape recordings of Goodness Gracious Me.” Uncle Rick instantly had a big grin on his face as he simply replied: “Still cracks me up.”
Goodness Gracious Me is a 1990s comedy sketch show that ran for three years and starred former EastEnders icon Nina Wadia and The Split Up’s very own Sanjeev Bhaskar.
The award-winning sitcom also starred Bhaskar’s wife Meera Syal who was also one of the creative minds behind Goodness Gracious Me.
Prior to Luke telling everyone about the VHS tapes he found, Uncle Rick told Aria that she shouldn’t “settle” as he sensed chemistry between his niece and her colleague.
It was at her “Fox Do” with husband-to-be Neal (Danny Ashok) that he revealed he knew her father was going to make him joint manager of Kishan Law long before it was announced.
Feeling betrayed, Aria went to Luke’s flat and admitted her feelings which led to a passionate kiss but how is their love story going to play out?
The Split Up is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
ITV’s new drama The Blame starring Michelle Keegan and Douglas Booth tackles misogyny that can be found in the UK police force
Michelle Keegan stars as Di Emma Craine in ITV’s The Blame(Image: ITV)
Deeply offensive messages sent by serving police officers in a group chat are the basis of a storyline featured in ITV‘s gripping new drama starring Michelle Keegan.
Six-part series The Blame, based on the 2023 book of the same name by Charlotte Langley, starts off when the body of a young woman is found in a small town where DI Crane (Michelle Keegan) and DI Radley (Douglas Booth) work.
The duo team up to uncover what happened to a teenage figure skater, Sophie Madsen, and discover “a tangled web of lies, institutional cover-ups and a moral compromise”.
The show tackles misogyny that can be found in the UK police force, and the official synopsis confirms that Keegan’s DI Crane “must navigate both a murder investigation and the treacherous politics inside her own team”.
It also depicts actual text messages from the real-life Metropolitan Police group chat scandals, in which multiple investigations exposed deep-rooted and systemic racism, homophobia, and sexism, dismissed as “banter”, poisoning the country’s top police force.
Speaking about The Blame at ITV Showcase 2026 earlier this year, actor Douglas Booth explained: “There was a Panorama about the Charing Cross WhatsApp messages and texts that are completely sickening, and that was a bit of a basis and model for this group chat to let this toxic behavior spread and rot the department.”
He added: “Every single character in this show is trying to be a good person and nearly all of them are touched by some sort of institutional failure and hold some form of moral injury.”
An official investigation was launched by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which exposed the highly damaging revelations involving officers based at London’s Charing Cross Police Station who shared deeply offensive, racist, misogynistic, and homophobic messages on WhatsApp and Facebook.
First exposed globally in a landmark February 2022 report by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), the scandal triggered widespread public outrage and directly contributed to the resignation of Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick.
The IOPC’s Operation Hotton uncovered a toxic culture within the station’s impact team between 2016 and 2018, which officers routinely dismissed as “banter”.
The watchdog noted a pervasive culture of bullying where good officers were too intimidated to challenge or report their peers. The initial 2022 report led to multiple fast-track misconduct hearings, resulting in several officers being sacked, forced to resign, or barred from policing.
Secret filming aired during BBC’s Panorama Undercover in the Police revealed evidence of racism, misogyny and officers revelling in the use of force at Charing Cross.
Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said at the time: “Enquiries were immediately launched by our Directorate of Professional Standards into allegations of criminality and misconduct by officers and staff based at Charing Cross Police Station.The behaviour as reported is disgraceful and rapid steps to secure evidence and protect the public have also been taken.
“In addition, we are scrutinising more widely the leadership and culture within these teams, led by Professional Standards and senior leaders, to root out any further failings. The leadership of these teams failed to create the right culture that identified warning signs or generated confidence in junior colleagues to report. This is one of the reasons we are taking such assertive exceptional action.
“The Met’s leadership has been very clear that it will not tolerate behaviour that fails to meet the organisation’s standards of professionalism and integrity.”
The Blame airs Sunday, September 20 on ITV1 at 9pm
![Ferran Torres celebrates scoring the goal that won Spain the 2026 World Cup [AFP]](https://i0.wp.com/occasionaldigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/afp_6a8042379264-1786790455.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
