PSG fear impact of injuries as they put Champions League title on the line

PARIS – There is a sense that the new season gets up and running for real this week for Paris Saint-Germain as they begin their defence of the Champions League title, amid doubts about how much longer their squad can handle being pushed to the limit by a crowded calendar.

PSG will host Atalanta on Sept 17 for their first game in Europe, 3½ months after their stunning 5-0 destruction of Inter Milan in the 2024-25 final.

Luis Enrique’s team will also entertain Bayern Munich, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United in the league phase, with trips to Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Athletic Bilbao and Sporting Lisbon as well.

Those are tough games, although PSG’s poor start in the 2024-25 Champions League campaign has shown that they might not need to be at their very best immediately. The French champions lost three of eight league phase games last season, but still won Europe’s elite club competition for the first time following a dazzling run of form from the turn of the year.

The concern now is that last season’s exertions could catch up with them.

Les Parisiens played 65 games during 2024-25. That included 17 matches in the Champions League and seven at the Club World Cup, where their campaign concluded with a 3-0 final loss to Chelsea in mid-July. Three weeks later they were back for pre-season training, and a week after that, they started the new campaign against Tottenham in the Uefa Super Cup.

Fast forward a month and PSG – who won the Super Cup on penalties – have won their first four games in Ligue 1, but it looks like recent efforts are beginning to catch up with them.

Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue are out for several weeks with injuries suffered playing for France, while Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Lee Kang-in and Lucas Beraldo came off hurt in the 2-0 victory over Lens on Sept 14.

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

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

It is not solely down to luck that PSG avoided serious injuries last season, with Enrique squad management a key factor. Nineteen PSG players played more than 1,000 minutes in 2024-25, the same number as Real Madrid and Barcelona, for example.

But the Club World Cup, often played in searing heat and involving numerous long journeys across the United States, was bound to take a toll.

PSG used 19 players in that competition, while Chelsea fielded 27. The French side looked lethargic in the final and were torn apart.

If they do advance to the latter stages of the Champions League again, PSG are looking at playing at least 55 games this season, including the Intercontinental Cup in December.

And there is a World Cup coming at the end of the 2025-26 season, where a large number of PSG’s players will be present.

This campaign is set to be even more intense for Achraf Hakimi, who played more minutes than anyone else for PSG last season – he will also feature heavily for hosts Morocco at the Africa Cup of Nations in December and January.

Hakimi has no natural understudy at right-back at PSG, who surprisingly opted not to add significant depth to their squad in the transfer window.

“Injuries to high-profile players are only one visible part of the workload crisis facing professional football and are not surprising,” said global players’ union Fifpro last week.

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

Yet despite the concerns, there is huge excitement at PSG as they put their title on the line 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,” added Enrique. AFP