PSG concern influence of accidents as they put Champions League title on the road

PSG host Atalanta on Wednesday for his or her first recreation in Europe, three and a half months after their beautiful 5-0 destruction of Inter Milan in final season’s remaining in Munich.

Luis Enrique’s workforce may also entertain Bayern, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United within the league section, with journeys to Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Athletic Bilbao and to Lisbon to face Sporting on the horizon too.

Those are powerful video games, though PSG’s poor begin in final season’s Champions League has proven that they may not should be at their best instantly.

The French champions misplaced three of eight league section video games final season, however nonetheless gained Europe’s elite membership competitors for the primary time following a blinding run of type from the flip of the yr.

The concern now, nevertheless, is that final season’s exertions may meet up with them and severely jeopardise their probabilities of retaining the trophy.

The Parisians performed 65 video games throughout 2024/25, in a season spanning 11 months. That included 17 matches within the Champions League and 7 within the Club World Cup, the place their marathon marketing campaign concluded with a 3-0 loss to Chelsea in mid-July.

Three weeks later they have been again for pre-season coaching, and every week after that they began the brand new marketing campaign in opposition to Tottenham within the UEFA Super Cup.

Fast ahead a month and PSG who gained the Super Cup on penalties have gained their first 4 video games in Ligue 1 nevertheless it appears to be like just like the latest efforts are starting to meet up with them.

Ballon d’Or favorite Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue are out for a number of weeks with muscle accidents suffered taking part in for France, whereas Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Lee Kang-in and Lucas Beraldo got here off damage in Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Lens.

“It happens to everyone. It is a bit of a difficult time for us because we have a lot of players injured,” mentioned Luis Enrique, the coach along with his personal arm in a sling after fracturing a collarbone in a biking accident.

“I am calm about it and I hope we will manage to overcome it.”

It will not be solely luck that PSG prevented critical accidents final season, owing a lot to the coach’s administration of the squad.

– Hakimi within the purple zone? –

Nineteen PSG gamers performed greater than 1,000 minutes in 2024/25, the identical quantity as Real Madrid and Barcelona for instance.

But the Club World Cup, usually performed in searing warmth and involving quite a few lengthy journeys throughout the United States, needed to take a toll.

PSG used 19 gamers in that competitors, whereas Chelsea fielded 27 the French aspect regarded rinsed within the remaining and have been torn aside.

If they do go to the latter phases of the Champions League once more, PSG are taking a look at taking part in at the very least 55 video games this season, together with the FIFA Intercontinental Cup in December.

And there’s a World Cup coming on the finish of the season, the place a big bulk of PSG’s gamers will likely be current.

The yr is ready to be much more intense for Achraf Hakimi, who performed extra minutes than anybody else for PSG final season he may also characteristic closely for Morocco as they host the Africa Cup of Nations in December and January.

Hakimi has no pure understudy at right-back at PSG, who surprisingly opted to not add important depth to their squad within the switch window, signing just one new centre-back in Illia Zabarnyi, whereas Lucas Chevalier changed Gianluigi Donnarumma in objective.

“Injuries to high-profile players are only one visible part of the workload crisis facing professional football and are not surprising,” mentioned world gamers’ union FIFPro final week.

“The impact is not felt just by the players but increasingly also by clubs, national teams, fans and national competitions.”

Yet regardless of the considerations, there may be big pleasure at PSG as they put their title on the road in Europe.

“It is a special moment. We know how difficult this competition is, but we are relaxed about it and we are hoping to put in a good performance in our first game,” mentioned Luis Enrique.

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TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

InterContinental Hotels Group

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