The North Londoners could therefore approach the fixture with some degree of confidence, though a potential willingness to be a little too gung-ho against one of the fastest-breaking teams in European football would need to be curtailed.
500th appearance for Marquinhos
Frank had made four changes to the side that faced Copenhagen, with Djed Spence, Archie Gray, Richarlison, and Lucas Bergvall coming in for Xavi Simons, Wilson Odobert, Destiny Udogie, and Brennan Johnson.
Luis Enrique had surprisingly benched PSG talisman, Ousmane Dembele, whilst Achraf Hakimi was still unavailable through injury.
Marquinhos was making his 500th appearance for PSG across all competitions, starting 459 of those matches, with Randal Kolo Muani having a point to prove against his parent club, given that he hadn't scored in any of his last 16 Champions League appearances since netting for the French giants against Milan in October 2023.
PSG made the early running
Perhaps unsurprisingly, all of the early running was made by the UCL holders, with PSG having 80% possession and four shots in the opening quarter hour. They hadn't, however, had a single touch in the Spurs box during that time.
Tottenham huffed and puffed but did little in an attacking sense, and in fact failed to have a single shot in the opening 30 minutes for the second game in a row.
The Lilywhites' last game against Arsenal was a disaster in almost every respect, so the opening to this match didn't bode well. Frank won't have been happy either that it was the fourth time already in 2025/26 that something similar had happened.
Incredibly, despite being under the cosh for so long, it was the visitors who opened the scoring, Richarlison stooping to conquer after Kolo Muani's assist.
After netting a brace on his UCL debut against Marseille in September 2022, the Brazilian finally bagged a third goal in the competition.
Despite leading against the run of play, there never appeared to be too much doubt that PSG would get back into the game, and when they did so through Vitinha, it was a work of art.
The Portuguese opened his body up and powered home a sumptuous drive that gave Guglielmo Vicario no chance. A fourth of six UCL goals from outside the box was also his 11th of 22 in all competitions from distance.
As ever, his passing stats were already off the chart, and he posted a 92.6% completion by close of play.
Kolo Muani rocks his parent club
PSG's only shot on target in the first half was actually one more than they managed against Spurs in the first half of the Super Cup final.
Kolo Muani, as football fate would decree, then gave the North Londoners the lead, though it would last only three minutes on this occasion as Vitinha again levelled.
With Joao Neves and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia dominating the midfield with 16 and 14 one-on-one duels attempted respectively, the tide had seemingly turned completely in PSG's favour.
It was Neves who set up Fabian Ruiz for the hosts' third goal which saw them take the lead for the first time on the night. A third goal conceded by Spurs in the opening 15 minutes of the second half is only worsened by Villarreal's five in the same time frame and bottom-of-the-table Ajax's four.
Tottenham's unwanted record
Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero were holding the fort at the back, but were being let down by teammates who were giving the ball away with alarming regularity.
Richarlison and Kolo Muani lost possession on 26 separate occasions between them, and each time, the ball just kept coming back, putting pressure on the back four.
Willian Pacho looked to have made the game safe with PSG's fourth just after the hour, the first time since May 2003 when Spurs were managed by Glenn Hoddle, that they'd conceded 4+ goals in consecutive games.
Kolo Muani somehow managed to grab a third for Tottenham with just his second effort on target, but any thoughts of a comeback were soon dispelled when Romero's handball earned PSG a penalty.
Vitinha made no mistake for his hat-trick, and which was his fourth goal of this season's competition means he's now the top scorer for the Ligue 1 giants in 25/26.
Felix Zwayer's fourth penalty award in three UCL games this season also meant that no referee has awarded more. He also sent off Lucas Hernandez late on, and therefore also tops the charts for red cards given in the competition.
Spurs players won't want to be reminded that they'd conceded five goals away from home for the first time in their major European history, and their five shots at goal in the final 10 minutes - only one of which was on target - were too little effort too late in the game.
