Champions League: Barcelona revival gets its ultimate test in trip to PSG as Bayern hosts Arsenal

AP - Not since those glorious days of Lionel Messi in that famous blue-and-garnet shirt has Barcelona been this good. This week, we'll see just how good.

Ahead of what is always Barca's biggest game of the season - the clasico against bitter rival Real Madrid in La Liga on Sunday - comes an eagerly anticipated trip to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday in the standout Champions League match of the third round. It's a meeting of the current top two in the nascent league-phase standings and, for many, an early taster of what could easily be the lineup in the final, which is being staged in Madrid next June.

That would underline the definitive revival of Barcelona, which hasn't been in the Champions League's title match since 2015 - when Luis Enrique, the current PSG coach, was at the helm and Messi was wreaking havoc in that prolific front line alongside Neymar and Luis Suarez. More than a decade later, the names aren't quite as stellar - not yet, anyway - but the likes of Lamine Yamal and Raphinha are fueling goal-fests every few days.

Barcelona has played 11 matches in all competitions this season, winning them all, and has scored 48 goals already. That's more than 4.3 goals a game.

Can that continue against PSG, thedefending two-time championand the team that has set the standard in European soccer for the past two seasons? PSG has found its groove in recent weeks, too, winning six games in a row including two straight in the Champions League - 6-1 at home to Slovan Bratislava and4-2 at Manchester Citylast week.

That makes them the top scorers in the competition, with one more goal than Barcelona after its 5-1 win over Feyenoord and 4-1 victory at Galatasaray. A year ago, PSG came to Barcelona in the league phase without injured star forwards Ousmane Dembele, Désiré Doué and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and rallied to win2-1, with Goncalo Ramos scoring a 90th-minute winner.

Revenge would be sweet for Barca in the ultimate test of its rejuvenation. Bayern-Arsenal is another high-profile match-up If PSG and Barcelona are currently the best two teams in Europe, Bayern Munich and Arsenal aren't far behind.

They meet in Munich in another stellar match-up that pits another of Europe's most devastating attacking units against the most well-organized defense on the continent. Bayern, which has four points from a possible six in the Champions League so far, is coming off a 6-1 win over Leipzig in the Bundesliga that makes it 36 goals in 10 games this season.

Arsenal has yet to concede a goal after back-to-back wins in Europe and is tied for the best defensive record in the Premier League with five goals conceded in seven games. Questions are being asked, though, about Arsenal's attacking strength under Mikel Arteta, who said after last season's penalty-shootout loss to PSG in the final that his team needed to show more ambition to "reach another level."