Ousmane Dembele came off early in Paris Saint-Germain’s final game of the Ligue 1 season on Sunday, but the expectation is that he’ll be alright for the Champions League final.
‘Ligue 1 Player of the Season’ Ousmane Dembele has rarely completed a match in the competition this season, and Sunday’s game was no exception.
The winger was withdrawn in the first half an hour of PSG’s game against Paris FC, marking the 33rd time in 34 games that he’s failed to play the full 90 in a league fixture.
In the current Ligue 1 campaign, Dembele has missed 12 games completely, coming on as a substitute 11 times, and starting on a further 11 occasions – but only completing the full match in one of those 11 starts.
PSG have always wrapped Dembele in cotton wool for the Champions League, in which he’s started 10 of 16 matches, completing four full 90s.
So with Dembele coming off early against Paris FC, is there any indication his reported calf injury might be serious this time?
PSG boss Luis Enrique certainly didn’t seem to think so, suggesting they’d need to wait for further assessments, but that it seemed minor and that there’s still plenty of time before the Champions League final.
“Nothing to say about Ousmane, we’ll have to wait until [Monday] to know exactly, but I think it’s just fatigue,” Enrique said. “What we’re saying today is just speculation, but I don’t think it’s [a] complicated [injury] and there are still two weeks left.”
The TV broadcast of the game in France suggested the player had confirmed whilst leaving the field that there was no tear. French journalist Fabrice Hawkins reported on social media that it was a precautionary change, and something to be monitored over the coming days.
It’s unclear why exactly Dembele would be struggling with fatigue, having played less football in all competitions this season than the likes of Noni Madueke and the perennially-injured Riccardo Calafiori.
But there’s never much to play for in Ligue 1, so it makes sense PSG wouldn’t take any risks ahead of the Champions League final.
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