Nuno Mendes left off gameday squad for Sunday

PSG will be back at the Parc des Princes this Sunday, Jan. 29 to host Stade de Reims as part of the MD 20 of the Ligue 1 season. Although everybody expected Nuno Mendes to play after he appeared recently in PSG games, he will miss this weekend's game.

This is the last January game for Paris Saint-Germain before they enter a rather daunting, season-deciding month of February that is both loaded with games and packed full of high-stakes matchups against scary opponents including Olympique Marseille (French Cup Round of 16) and Bayern Munich (Champions League R16).

Christophe Galtier addressed the media at his pre-match press conference on Friday. He confirmed the return of Marco Verratti (and Lionel Messi after getting some days off) while also ruling Nordi Mukiele and Presnel Kimpembe out of Sunday's match.

Nuno Mendes will rest on Sunday as a "precautionary" measure with a daunting month of February ahead

After Saturday's training session, PSG made public their squad for Sunday's game against Reims and it included a surprising absence: Nuno Mendes won't take part in this week's finale.

According to L'Equipe, Christophe Galtier and the rest of the PSG coaching and medical staff are leaving Mendes off today's game as a "planned, precautionary measure." Considerin what Nuno Mendes has gone through during the past couple of months, it actually makes sense for PSG to approach his situation this way.

Mendes returned from the World Cup earlier than Portugal got eliminated because he suffered an injury. He recovered in time for the return of the second half of the season, but PSG don't want to risk a setback or a re-injury, thus the rest today.

Juan Bernat will take his place in the right-back position against Reims, as the veteran Spaniard has done in the past few competitive games after the World Cup break.