Barcelona v PSV facts

Barcelona will once again be banking on their imperious home form in the UEFA Champions League when they kick off Group B at home to PSV Eindhoven.

• The Catalan club won all five matches at the Camp Nou in the 2017/18 competition, and are unbeaten in five years at home in the UEFA Champions League. Furthermore, they kick off against a PSV side who have never won in Spain in 14 previous visits.

Previous meetings
• Barcelona have won two of the teams' six fixtures, losing only one – both clubs have scored 12 goals.

• Most recently, the sides traded 2-2 draws in Eindhoven and Barcelona in the 1997/98 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• There were also plenty of goals in the teams' 1995/96 UEFA Cup quarter-final, Barcelona eventually going through 5-4 on aggregate (2-2 home, 3-2 away).

• PSV won the first tie between the sides, in the 1977/78 UEFA Cup semi-finals, 4-3 on aggregate. The Dutch club won the home first leg 3-0 – the teams' first meeting – and survived a 3-1 loss in Spain to progress; they went on to win the trophy.

Form guide
Barcelona
• Spanish champions for the 25th time – and third in four years – in 2017/18, Barcelona have been European champions on five occasions, most recently in 2015.

• Barça have won their group in each of the past 11 seasons, and have reached at least the quarter-finals in all of those UEFA Champions League campaigns, both competition records. In 2017/18, they succumbed to a remarkable Roma fightback in the last eight, going out despite a 4-1 home first-leg victory after losing 3-0 in the Rome return.

• That defeat at Roma ended Barcelona's ten-match unbeaten run in the UEFA Champions League (W6 D4).

• Barcelona are unbeaten in 26 UEFA Champions League home matches, a run that started in September 2013 (W24 D2). They have won all their home group games in the last five editions.

• The Spanish side's last fixtures against Eredivisie opposition came in 2014/15, when they defeated Ajax twice in the group stage (3-1 home, 2-0 away).

PSV
• The Eindhoven club claimed their 24th Dutch league title in 2017/18 – the third time in four seasons they have lifted the Eredivisie crown.

• This is PSV's 16th season in the group stage – more than any other Dutch side. They qualified by beating Belarus champions BATE Borisov 6-2 on aggregate in the play-offs (3-2 away, 3-0 home).

• The first-leg win at BATE ended a ten-game run without a European away win for PSV (D4 L6).

•  European Cup winners in 1988, PSV have reached the UEFA Champions League knockout stage only four times – most recently in 2015/16, when they got to the last 16.

• The Eindhoven club failed to win a game in their last group appearance, in 2016/17 (D2 L4) and have not won in their last eight UEFA Champions League fixtures, group stage to final (D4 L4).

• Their last away win in the UEFA Champions League proper was a 1-0 success at CSKA Moskva in November 2007. Their record since then is D3 L7.

• PSV's 2017/18 European campaign lasted only one tie – they lost 1-0 home and away to Croatian club Osijek in the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round.

• PSV's record in Spain is W0 D5 L9. Home and away, they are without a win since a 3-2 home defeat of Deportivo La Coruña in December 2003; their record since is D3 L5, most recently home (0-1) and away (2-0) defeats against Atlético Madrid in the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League group stage.

Links and trivia
• PSV coach Mark van Bommel was a Barcelona player in 2005/06, winning the UEFA Champions League and the Spanish Liga title in his only season at the Camp Nou.

• Van Bommel was part of the Netherlands side beaten 1-0 by Spain, whose line-up included Gerard Piqué and Sergio Busquets, in the 2010 FIFA World Cup final.

• Have played in the Netherlands:
Luis Suárez (Groningen 2006/07, Ajax 2007–11)
Jasper Cillessen (NEC Nijmegen 2010–11, Ajax 2011–16)
Thomas Vermaelen (Ajax 2003–09, RKC Waalwijk 2004/05 loan)

• Has played in Spain:
Angelino (Mallorca 2017 loan)

• International team-mates:
Jasper Cillessen & Jeroen Zoet, Luuk de Jong (Netherlands)

Latest news

Barcelona
• Summer transfers
In: Arthur (Grêmio), Clément Lenglet (Sevilla), Malcom (Bordeaux), Arturo Vidal (Bayern)
Out: Gerard Deulofeu (Watford), Andrés Iniesta (Vissel Kobe), Paulinho (Guangzhou Evergrande, loan), Douglas (Sivasspor, loan), Adriá Ortolá (Deportivo, loan), Lucas Digne (Everton), Aleix Vidal (Sevilla), Yerry Mina (Everton), André Gomes (Everton, loan), José Arnaiz (Leganés), Marlon (Sassuolo), Paco Alcácer (Dortmund, loan)

• Luís Suárez's next appearance in the UEFA Champions League will be his 50th.

• Barcelona came from behind to beat Sevilla 2-1 in the Spanish Super Cup on 12 August, Gerard Piqué and Ousmane Dembélé with the goals.

• Ernesto Valverde's side have won four out of four in this season's Liga, including an 8-2 defeat of promoted Huesca on 2 September. They were 2-1 winners at Real Sociedad on Saturday thanks to goals from Suárez and Dembélé.

• Dembélé has three goals already in the Liga this season, matching his total for the whole of last season.

• Lionel Messi has nine goals in his last eight Liga matches.

• Barça have won their last four home matches in all competitions, and are unbeaten in 30 matches at the Camp Nou (W27 D3), since a 3-1 defeat by Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup on 13 August 2017.

• Suárez scored twice as Uruguay beat Mexico 4-1 in a friendly win on 7 September while Philippe Coutinho found the net in Brazil's 5-0 defeat of El Salvador four days later.

• Samuel Umtiti made six appearances in France's FIFA World Cup victory in Russia this summer, scoring the only goal of the semi-final against Belgium; Dembélé featured in four matches.

PSV Eindhoven
• Summer transfers
In: Denzel Dumfries (Heerenveen), Nick Viergever (Ajax), Ryan Thomas (PEC Zwolle)*, Angeliño (Manchester City), Trent Sainsbury (Jiangsu Suning), Aziz Behich (Bursaspor), Érick Gutiérrez (CF Pachuca)
Out: Sam Lammers (Heerenveen, loan), Santiago Arias (Atlético), Joshua Brenet (Hoffenheim), Albert Gudmundsson (AZ Alkmaar)
*Not in UEFA Champions League squad

• On 4 August PSV lost on penalties to Feyenoord in the Johan Cruijff Schaal after a goalless 90 minutes at their own ground in Eindhoven.

• PSV have won all seven games in all competitions since then, including five in the Eredivisie. Saturday's 7-0 success at Den Haag followed the 6-1 defeat of Willem II on 1 September and gave them 27 goals across those seven matches.

• The 7-0 defeat of Den Haag was PSV's biggest win since 2 February 2013 – another success against Den Haag by the same scoreline.

• Steven Bergwijn has scored in PSV's last three matches, while Hirving Lozano and Gastón Pereiro both got two on Saturday and have four goals in five Eredivisie appearances this season.

• Lozano scored the only goal as Mexico beat then holders Germany in their opening game at the FIFA World Cup.

• Pereiro scored his first goal for Uruguay on his first start, a 4-1 friendly win against Mexico on 8 September; PSV team-mates Lozano and Érick Gutiérrez were in the Mexico team.

• Summer signing Ryan Thomas suffered a cruciate knee injury in late August, two weeks after signing from Zwolle; he has not been included in the UEFA Champions League squad.