Paris Saint-Germain vs Atletico Madrid Preview: Team News & Prediction | 2025 FIFA Club World Cup | Group Stage

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Newly-crowned European champions Paris Saint-Germain begin their 2026 FIFA World Cup by taking on Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles in Group B.

Kick-off date/time:

How to watch on TV & online: UK – DAZN & Channel 5 / US – DAZN

Paris Saint-Germain team news: Dembele doubtful

The Parisians are likely to be without Ousmane Dembele after he suffered an injury whilst playing for France in their UEFA Nations League semi-final clash with Spain. Whilst Luis Enrique has a strong squad available to choose from, he will need to manage workloads following the international break.

Predicted XI (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes; Neves, Vitinha, Ruiz; Barcola, Doue, Kvaratskhelia

Unavailable: 

Questionable: Dembele (Injured)

Atletico Madrid team news: Decision to be made over strike-partnership

Diego Simeone has a tough decision to make regarding which duo to start in attack with Julian Alvarez, Antoine Griezmann and Alexander Sorloth all fighting for what will likely be only two spots in the XI. Goalkeeper Jan Oblak missed the end of the domestic season, but featured for his country in midweek, so should be in line to play here.

Predicted XI (4-4-2): Oblak; Molina, Le Normand, Lenglet, Galan; Simeone, De Paul, Koke, Lino; Griezmann, Alvarez

Unavailable: 

Questionable: 

Key stats

• The only previous competitive match between these teams took place on Matchday 4 of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League. Diego Simeone’s Atletico side snatched a 2-1 victory over Luis Enrique’s PSG thanks to an added-time winner from Ángel Correa after Warren Zaire-Emery’s 14th-minute opener for the French side had been quickly cancelled out by Nahuel Molina.
• PSG are the newly crowned champions of Europe having won the UEFA Champions League for the first time when they defeated Inter Milan 5-0 in the final of the 2024/25 edition on 31 May 2025. They are the second French team to win the competition after Marseille in 1992/93.
• Victory in the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League means that PSG have now qualified for both the FIFA Intercontinental Cup 2025™ and the FIFA Club World Cup 2029™.
• PSG have won four trophies this season: Ligue 1, Trophée des Champions, Coupe de France and UEFA Champions League.
• PSG are France’s most successful club with 13 league titles, their latest success this season – when they finished 19 points ahead of second-placed Marseille – was their 11th title in the last 13 seasons.
• PSG have scored 152 goals in 58 competitive matches this season.
• PSG have won their last five competitive matches with 17 goals scored and three conceded.
• In April 2024, PSG captain Marquinhos broke the record for most all-time appearances for the club which had been held by Jean-Marc Pilorget (435). Since moving to Paris in 2013, the Brazilian defender has won 34 trophies.
• PSG’s Ousmane Dembele was named as the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League Player of the Season. He finished with eight goals and six assists in their successful campaign.
• Ousmane Dembele has scored 33 goals in 49 competitive appearances for PSG this season. He had never scored more than 20 in a single campaign during his career previously.
• By winning the UEFA Champions League with PSG this season, Luis Enrique has become only the seventh coach with the competition with two clubs, he previously led Barcelona to the title in 2015.
• Luis Enrique played four matches and scored one goal for Spain at the FIFA World Cup™ in 1994 when the tournament was held in the USA.
• Winners of 11 Spanish league titles, Atlético have also captured seven UEFA club competitions, although a win in their premier confederation tournament the European Cup/Champions League has eluded them so far, they have come close with three appearances in the final.
• In 2024/25 Atlético competed in the UEFA Champions League competition proper for the 12th successive season, they qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ due to their consistent performances in the competition between 2020 and 2024.
• During the 2024/25 season, Atlético achieved a club record sequence of 15 successive wins in all competitions – the run eventually ended with a 1-0 defeat in the league at Leganés on 18 January 2025.
• Atletico finished in third place behind Barcelona and Real Madrid in La Liga this season, they exited the UEFA Champions League in a penalty shoot-out against Real Madrid in the round of 16 and lost 4-5 on aggregate against Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey.
• Atlético’s Norwegian striker Alexander Sørloth scored two hat-tricks in the Spanish League in May 2025. Firstly, on 10 May, he found the net four times in the first half against Real Sociedad – his hat-trick was completed within the space of four minutes between the 7th and 11th minutes making it the fastest hat-trick scored this century in La Liga. Then on 25 May against Girona, he came off the bench to score a second-half hat-trick in 4-0 win which rounded off their league campaign.
• In December 2023, Antoine Griezmann overtook Luis Aragonés as the top scorer in the history of the club when he scored his 174th goal as an Atlético player. It was a record that had stood since 1974. The Frenchman has now scored 197 in all competitions and is closing in on the landmark of 200.
• Atlético have lost only two of their 17 matches against French teams in UEFA competitions (W10 D5).
• PSG midfielder Fabián Ruiz won UEFA EURO 2024 with Spain alongside Atlético defender Robin Le Normand.
• Antoine Griezmann, Clément Lenglet and Thomas Lemar have all represented France – as have PSG players Zaïre-Emery, Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Presnel Kimpembe, Lucas Hernandez and Bradley Barcola.
• PSG defender Lucas Hernandez is a former Atletico player, having joined their academy aged 11. He won the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Super Cup with the Madrid club.
• PSG forward Ousmane Dembele played with Clément Lenglet (2018-21) and Antoine Griezmann (2019-22) for Barcelona, while Paris’s Achraf Hakimi and Atlético’s Marcos Llorente are former Real Madrid team-mates (2016-18).
• Atletico’s Nahuel Molina and Julian Alvarez were in the Argentina side that won 4-2 on penalties after a 3-3 draw against a France team featuring Ousmane Dembele in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final. Antoine Griezmann also played for France.
• PSG’s Lee Kangin won the Golden Ball at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2019 as Korea Republic reached the final, losing out 1-3 against Ukraine.
• Atletico boast the most FIFA World Cup winners of any roster at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ with six players having won the international global showpiece.  Antoine Griezmann and Thomas Lemar were successful with France in 2018. Julian Alvarez, Angel Correa, Rodrigo De Paul and Nahuel Molina won the competition with Argentina at Qatar 2022.
• Atletico’s Spanish midfielder Koke is one of five players in the 32 rosters to have participated in at least one FIFA World Cup, FIFA Under-20 World Cup and a FIFA Under-17 World Cup previously. Along with Hector Moreno (Monterrey), Oscar Ustari (Inter Miami), Timothy Weah (Juventus) and Jonggyu Yoon (Ulsan).

Paris Saint-Germain vs Atletico Madrid prediction

Luis Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain completed the treble last season with a 5-0 demolition of Internazionale in the final of the UEFA Champions League at the Allianz Arena in Munich a couple of weeks ago. That record-breaking victory made it four trophies for the season, as they also won the Trophee des Champions in January against Monaco.

They now face an Atletico Madrid side that were in contention for the treble as late as mid-March but Los Rojiblancos’ season more or less fell apart in the space of a few weeks. Atleti still have a brilliant squad and have had time to prepare well for the tournament so may well prove to be a tough test here.

PSG can make it five trophies in the last 12 months here but it may well actually be a tough test for a PSG side floating at the moment, and a similar rhythm and result as to what happened in their clash during the league phase of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League, whereby Atleti snatched all three points against the run of play, may well represent good value.

Paris Saint-Germain vs Atletico Madrid tip: Double chance – Atletico Madrid to win or draw