Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé, who has been sidelined for several weeks with a right thigh injury, is returning to the PSG squad for Tuesday, October 21st’s Champions League match against Bayer Leverkusen. Désiré Doué will also be available after an encouraging first start last Friday against Strasbourg following several weeks of absence.
After suffering a “severe right hamstring lesion” with the French national team on September 5th, the player received treatment at a specialized clinic in Doha, Qatar, during the international break and resumed team training last week.
The Ballon d’Or winner trained normally on Saturday, according to footage released by the club, and is set to make his first appearance for PSG since winning the supreme individual award.
After six weeks out, as initially announced at the time of his injury, the French attacker is expected to feature against Leverkusen, who are 5th in the Bundesliga, for the 3rd matchday of the Champions League group stage.
In addition to Dembélé, PSG has regained several players who suffered calf injuries on September 5th, as well as Georgian forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. Captain Marquinhos, absent on Friday, is also expected to travel to Leverkusen, but not Fabian Ruiz or Joao Neves.
“There are returns and it’s very good news”
Désiré Doué can finally kick-start his season. His injury caused him to miss six matches with PSG and three matches with the French national team. An eternity for this hard worker with impeccable lifestyle habits, who, according to those close to him, often does extra individual training sessions between team practices.
“I am happy. There are returns and it’s very good news. I think there are still three or four important players left to reintegrate into the team,” commented the coach.
For this third Champions League matchday, the coach, who will take no risks with his players, will finally be able to count on his attacking trio that started in the final last May against Inter Milan (5-0): Dembélé, of course, but also Désiré Doué and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
All were absent in Barcelona on October 1st, which didn’t prevent PSG, aided by their young academy graduates, to turn the match around and come away with an important victory (2-1), their second after the big win against Atalanta Bergamo (4-0) in their opening match.
“Usually, PSG has more ball possession, but we are confident in our own game. We’ll see what happens,” said the Bayer Leverkusen manager. After a subdued start to the Bundesliga season (one win, two draws, and one loss in the first four matchdays), Bayer Leverkusen secured a third consecutive win on Saturday at Mainz (4-3). In the Champions League, the Germans shared the points in Copenhagen (2-2) and against PSV Eindhoven (2-2).