Marco Verratti to join Messi on the shelves against Monaco

PSG will visit Monaco on Saturday as part of the 23rd matchday of the Ligue 1 campaign. Lionel Messi was ruled out a few days ago, and Achraf Hakimi is seemingly available to play, but on Friday PSG announced that Marco Verratti will be absent.

Earlier this week it was announced that Lionel Messi will miss this game with his return to training scheduled for Monday ahead of the Champions League clash against Bayern Munich on Tuesday, Feb. 14.

Hakimi was confirmed in by coach Christophe Galtier on his press conference on Friday with the Morocco international suffering from "fatigue" but not an actual injury to his hamstrings.

More worryingly for PSG's if they want to win at Monaco, though, was the news about Marco Verratti sitting Saturday's game out. The Italian will miss this matchup against the fourth-place Ligue 1 team after feeling "discomfort in his left hip," problems that popped up after the game against Olympique Marseille last Wednesday.

Verratti will skip this match as a precaution with Bayern waiting at the start of next week. He will be taken care off on the training center by the staff of PSG instead of traveling to Monaco with the rest of the team.

It's worth remembering that between injuries and suspensions, Verratti has missed more games this calendar year than those in which he has appeared nearing one month and a half of competitive play. He just returned from a two-game suspension against OM but he is once more hitting the sideline, now injured.

PSG won't have Messi, Verratti, Kylian Mbappe, Nordi Mukiele, and Renato Sanches available for this match.

Defenders Presnel Kimpembe and Achraf Hakimi might also start on the bench while being a bit banged up. If the former gets any minutes of playing time that'd mark his return after suffering an Achilles injury right before the World Cup, a tournament he was forced to forfeit due to those physical problems.