PSG starts title defense with Champions League powers Barcelona, Liverpool, Arsenal also in action

Paris Saint-Germain enters the Champions League arena Wednesday as the two-time title holder heads a heavyweight lineup of six games.

PSG hosts Slovan Bratislava one day after 10 players in coach Luis Enrique’s squad were nominated on the shortlist of 30 for the Ballon d’Or award .

Arsenal, the beaten finalist in May, starts in Napoli after topping the 36-team standings last season with eight straight wins and as the only unbeaten club.

Six-time European champion Liverpool, under new Spanish coach Andoni Iraola , hosts Atletico Madrid in a repeat of the opening round one year ago that was won 3-2 on captain Virgil van Dijk’s stoppage-time header.

Five-time champion Barcelona also starts at home against Feyenoord, which is coached by Giovanni van Bronckhorst , who returns to Camp Nou where he spent four years as a player and won the Champions League in 2006.

That is one of the two early kickoffs at 6:45 p.m. (1645 GMT) in Central Europe. At the same time, debutant Viking from Norway will start at Stuttgart.

Sporting Lisbon also hosts Galatasaray in the 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) kickoffs.

PSG arrives at the Champions League, after failing to win any of its first three games in Ligue 1, hosting a Slovakian champion which lost all eight games when the 36-team league format debuted two years ago.

Still, Luis Enrique typically has his team peaking in the second half of the season where titles are won and lost.

In back-to-back Champions League title seasons, PSG placed just 11th and 15th in the 36-team standings and had to go through the knockout playoffs round in February.

PSG also has eight players who were involved in the longest-ever World Cup until the final weekend in mid-July and had a shorter offseason break.

Slovan coach Yaya Touré will make Champions League history as the first African to lead a team into the main phase of the competition.

Atletico coach Diego Simeone is approaching 15 years at the club and starts his 14th straight season in the Champions League. His team was the beaten finalist — both times against Real Madrid — in his first and third tries to win the European title that still eludes the club.

Atletico has lost its last two visits to Anfield, though a 3-2 extra-time win there in March 2020 eliminated then-title holder Liverpool in the round of 16.

See AP’s full soccer coverage here