Paris Saint-Germain sticks out its tongue. After a season full of titles but very exhausting, the residents of the Parc des Princes continued with the 2025-26 financial year, which began on August 13 with the European Super Cup against Tottenham. A meeting which took place one month to the day after the Club World Cup final lost to Chelsea in the United States. Despite a few days off, busy organizations were not able to fully recover. Which is no surprise for the Parisian staff, who are doing their best to manage the players’ condition and their fatigue. But PSG is not at 100% of its means. This was the case last night against a team from Bayern Munich (2-1), which is in top form.
After the meeting, Marquinhos admitted: “we faced a team that was well established and very physically fit. They were better than us in the first half, they were better in physical impact and high recovery. We couldn’t get our game together. Many players (from PSG) are not in good shape, 100%. I’m part of it.” Bradley Barcola agrees. “The sequence of matches hurts and I’m starting to feel it. It’s starting to pull.” In addition to their physical form, injuries also continued. After Désiré Doué’s new glitch, Lucho lost Achraf Hakimi last night, victim of a horrible tackle from Luis Diaz, and Ousmane Dembélé. If for the Moroccan it is part of football as he explained, the Frenchman’s case is getting people talking.
A new injury that gets people talking
Remember, the 2025 Ballon d’Or injured his right thigh with the Blues against Ukraine last September. Which had put PSG in a rage. Indeed, the Parisian staff had informed the FFF of the fragility of Dembouz, who was still used. Absent for several weeks, he returned to Paris on October 21. But doubts arose on Saturday, when he indicated that he had discomfort in the ischio of his right thigh against Nice. “I have pain in my ischio, I’m in too much pain”blurted the native of Vernon. Asked about him at a press conference on Monday on the eve of the clash against Bayern Munich, Luis Enrique indicated that he would not take any risks.
Then, a few hours after the shock, he blurted out: “He’s going to play, but I don’t know how many minutes.” He finally spent 25 minutes on the field, having left with an injury. A first hard blow for Paris, which then lost Hakimi. After the meeting, Luis Enrique said about Dembouz: “It has nothing to do with the last injury. It’s a new injury, you have to be very attentive. We are looking to improve the health of the players at this pace of competition.” We will know more about him during the day, after further examinations. In the meantime, Luis Enrique is taking the heat from the French press. The Team violently tackles the Asturian technician.
Luis Enrique too reckless?
“It is well worth giving lessons to the staff of the France team to manage Ousmane Dembélé in the same way, and to be forced to take him out in the same way, after less than half an hour. And if it is the Ballon d’Or who, each time, declares himself good for service, we will undoubtedly have to stop listening to him, especially in a period when he has to digest a revolution in his life, which cannot be digested in the ordinary way and for which there is no instruction manual. The Parisian wrote for his part: “twenty-five minutes!” The scathing response came this Tuesday when, in the wake of his goal disallowed for offside (23rd), Dembélé had to give way to Lee Kang-in after only seven balls touched.
The French media, which wonders when the Ballon d’Or season will finally begin, continues: “a pain undoubtedly awakened during this goal scored from a controlled check of the chest since the French international not only did not celebrate the event, but also hastened to whisper his doubts in the ear of his partners who came to congratulate him (…) If the relapse of Ousmane Dembélé is anything but good news for Paris, the player, or even Didier Deschamps six days before the gathering of the French team, it does not have, at first glance, the dramatic nature of Achraf Hakimi’s injury. If he stopped before his pain turned into an injury, the number 10 could hope to take advantage of the international break to get back on his feet. Finally, le Figaro believes that “Luis Enrique had perhaps misjudged the form of Ousmane Dembélé, who was injured in the 25th minute.”
The Asturian must improve
The coach responded on the subject. “The match changed because one of their players was sent off and eleven against ten we played well. For me, it’s a shame to have this result because I expected a better match from us. When you recover injured players, yes, they have recovered but they are not 100% fit. This is something I need to know how to manage better. With my idea and my experiences, I have to improve a lot in this direction.” In the meantime, he will pray that his players will not be absent too long.
