PSG criticises ‘avoidable’ Doue and Dembele injuries

Paris St.Germain have accused France’s national team of disregarding risks that caused “avoidable” injuries to Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue during their World Cup qualifying victory over Ukraine.

According to the French club, Dembele has been sidelined for about four weeks because of a “serious” hamstring injury, while Doue has been for about six weeks.

In order to defend their Champions League title, they will miss several crucial games, including the first game.

The European champions announced in a statement that they had written to the French Football Federation to request “more transparent and collaborative” coordination of medical protocol between clubs and the national team.

The organization claimed to have “sent the federation concrete medical information about the acceptable workload and injury risks for its players even before the French national team began training.”

The French national team’s medical staff did not take these medical recommendations into account, and there was no open consultation with its medical teams, they added.

PSG expressed its hope that the “regrettable events” would result in the recording of exchanges between clubs and France’s medical team and the adoption of a “precautionary principle” for players who are called-up while receiving treatment.

According to PSG, “the recent serious and avoidable events must cause prompt and necessary corrective action.”

At half-time of the 2-0 victory on Friday, Dembele was substituted in the 81st minute by himself in place of Doue after being injured.

Dembele was chosen for France’s manager, Didier Deschamps, who defended his choice by saying: “I was certain that he was capable of playing a high level match, otherwise I would not have played him.”

The other thigh is the subject this time. He was in good shape. He is unfortunate, but it could have happened to another player.

Deschamps stated on Sunday that Doue wanted to play, and that, in spite of his complacency, “the desire to play takes precedence over a lot of things.”

PSG travels to Spain on October to face Barcelona, the semi-finalists from the previous season, before PSG begin their Champions League defense against Atalanta on September 17th.

Both players contributed significantly to PSG’s 5-0 victory over Inter Milan in the European final, which earned them the Ligue 1, Coupe de France, and Champions League victories last year.

They were later included in Uefa’s tournament team.

Dembele is one of the favorites to receive the Ballon d’Or on September 21, the ceremony taking place on September 21.