The Champions League holders’ opponents in Paris Saint-Germain will face their biggest test of the season when they travel to Barcelona this week, but Luis Enrique’s side are currently dealing with a number of their biggest stars’ injuries.
Ousmane Dembele, who won the Ballon d’Or last week in recognition of his magnificent 2024/25 campaign, in which he scored 35 goals, is the headline absentee.
How Dembele would have preferred to face the Catalans, a team he left in 2023 after six years of dazzling but inconsistent performance and injuries.
Lamine Yamal, a teenager who won the Kopa Trophy for the best player in the world last year aged under 21, could have taken on the 28-year-old.
Dembele is recovering from a thigh injury that he sustained at the start of the month while playing for France on international duty, but he won’t be expected to return for at least another few weeks.
“It is proceeding well. Dembele announced on French television that he would return soon after receiving the Ballon d’Or trophy in the wake of Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Auxerre.
Desire Doue, a thrilling 20-year-old attacker who finished second to Yamal in the Kopa Trophy rankings, has not played since he injured his calf while on French duty with Dembele, who has also been missing.
Additionally, center-back Marquinhos and captain Joao Neves are both recovering from hamstring and thigh injuries.
Third-place Playmaker Vitinha of the Ballon d’Or came off just before half-time, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was subsequently withdrawn.
PSG hopes both players were removed as soon as possible to avoid any long-lasting harm, but suddenly Luis Enrique’s options are drastically reduced.
After the win over Auxerre on Saturday, the coach, a former Barcelona player and manager, said, “We have to stay positive because we need to be able to manage this situation.”
“Not just the injured ones are Paris Saint-Germain.” With such a busy calendar, it is the case for every team.
Too many games are catching up.
In a season that lasted 11 months, the Parisians played 65 games in 2024/25. That included 17 Champions League matches and seven Club World Cup contests, which their marathon campaign came to an end with a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in the middle of July.
Dembele has signed for PSG for just over two years, and he has also played 20 games for France in that time. This seems to be catching up with other players.
Since joining PSG in 2023/24, Vitinha has made 21 more appearances for Portugal.
Achraf Hakimi, PSG’s star right-back, has 131 games between the club and nation while he has the Africa Cup of Nations coming up this year and the World Cup of the following year.
These players need more of a rest, according to experts in the game, and playing too many games would harm the product.
Last week, FIFPro’s secretary general, Alex Phillips, made the point that “we think club owners are beginning to realize that this is bad for business.”
The newly crowned world champion should be appearing on a Champions League showdown between the reigning French and European champions.
PSG may need to invest more money in their resources, even though their squad depth is being exposed as perhaps not as impressive as it should be.
Despite that Luis Enrique’s side won their opening game 4-0 against Atalanta in Catalonia a fortnight ago.
In any case, a loss in this match may not be a significant setback for their main objective of reaching the knockout stage because more than enough games will be left in the league stage.
Source: Channels TV
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