PSG suffer new injury blow ahead of their clash against Auxerre

PSG announced today that their captain, 31 year old Brazilian central defender Marquinhos, will be absent for a few weeks following a thigh injury. This is ahead of tomorrow's game at home to Auxerre, and perhaps more crucially next week's Champions League fixture against Catalan giants Barcelona.

Marquinhos played 90 minutes in Monday's 'Le Classique' defeat to Marseille, but picked up the injury sometime in midweek, adding to an already considerable list of injuree absentees for Luis Enrique's side. Recent Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembélé is still absent and undertaking rehabilitation protocols, as are winger Desiré Doué and midfielder Joao Neves.

PSG's injury list is growing ahead of the Champions League

This means that PSG are looking worryingly light in both attack and defense, and are one injury away in the wing positions and at centre-back from having to field inexperienced youngsters. While the Parisians will still be expected to win tomorrow against an Auxerre side who sit tenth in the league, next week's game away in Barcelona is the most challenging of their calendar so far this season, and to see their side so considerably weakened for that game will be concerning for Luis Enrique (who will be up against his former team, having managed Barcelona between 2014 and 2017, leading them to two La Ligas and one Champions League title).

Speaking to PSG TV, Enrique expanded on the nature of his captain's injury, explaining that he had felt discomfort during the game and that he wanted to avoid taking any risks with the defender's fitness. When asked whether he was concerned about the injury crisis at the club, Enrique mused:

"That's football, that's competition, that's reality! You have to adapt. I'm not worried, that's football at the top level. Football is a sport where injuries are normal because it's a contact sport. I'm not worried at all, and that's the mentality that I want to transmit to the players and the fans. There are a lot of quality players at the Campus. Everything is planned out by the club."

Despite these positive comments, many fans of the club from the French capital will be concerned about the lack of depth that now exists within the squad, and will hope that PSG can get through tomorrow's game without losing any more key players ahead of next week's vital European tie. Some will feel that the upcoming international break might come at a good time for the side, as it is possible that both Dembélé and Doué will return to the side after the two weeks off.

Before that, however, PSG will also have to navigate a potentially tricky away game at Lille on the 5th of October, for which it is unlikely that any of the aforementioned absentees will have returned. After Monday's defeat to Marseille, PSG sit second in Ligue 1, behind Monaco on goal difference, and level on 12 points with Lyon and Strasbourg. They will hope to escape from this pack and establish a lead atop the French top flight before crucial games in the Champions League, so that they would be able to rest players in the domestic league, a tactic that was crucial in their Champions League glory last season.

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