PSG’s injuries mount but Luis Enrique unfazed before Barcelona game in Champions League
PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique refused to complain about the mounting injuries affecting his team before Wednesday’s Champions League match at Barcelona.
Defending champion PSG will be without star winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé and forward Désiré Doué.
They are all out injured along with central defender Marquinhos, the club captain, while PSG has doubts over the fitness of key midfielders Vitinha and João Neves.
“You can either get results or make excuses. Whoever plays tomorrow is part of a real team,” Luis Enrique said Tuesday at a pre-match news conference. “We are lucky to have very good players in every position and to have the finances to recruit very good players. So if there’s a coach who can’t complain, then it’s me.”
Luis Enrique is uncertain if he will pick Vitinha, who came off in the first half against Auxerre on Saturday, or Neves, who missed the past two Ligue 1 games with a thigh injury.
“We will see how the players feel when they wake up tomorrow. It is not a decisive game, so we are calm,” Luis Enrique said. “The decision will come more from the players than from me.”
PSG began the defense of its first Champions League title with a 4-0 rout of Atalanta two weeks ago.
But a Barcelona team featuring the inspired passing of midfielder Pedri, the mesmeric runs of winger Lamine Yamal, and the lethal finishing of veteran Robert Lewandowski — third all-time with 105 Champions League goals — appears a far harder proposition. Hansi Flick’s team was a Champions League semifinalist last season.
“Without doubt Pedri is like Harry Potter, I hope he doesn’t bring his magic wand tomorrow. We’ll do all we can to make sure he is the least involved possible,” said Luis Enrique, who won the Champions League as Barcelona coach in 2015 and played for the club as a standout midfielder.
“The two teams have the same philosophy and way of playing,” he added. “The key will be which team manages to keep the ball.”
Losing it exposes PSG to the counter-attacking of Yamal, who finished second behind Dembélé in the Ballon d’Or vote and caused havoc with his runs down the right flank in the competition last season.
PSG right back Achraf Hakimi said Yamal “will be playing against the best left back in the world” in Nuno Mendes.
“He is capable of stopping Lamine,” Hakimi said. “The important thing is not to leave (Yamal) one on one, so we will help (Mendes) out.” ___
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