PSG carry six injury cases into Saturday's Champions League final, with Dembélé's calf and Hakimi's thigh leading Luis Enrique's list
Paris Saint-Germain go into Saturday's Champions League final in Budapest carrying six players through fitness reviews this week. The two that decide Luis Enrique's shape are Ousmane Dembélé and Achraf Hakimi. The other four are likely to make the squad and probably the matchday eleven. The first two are the unknowns in a final that PSG are favoured to win at the Puskás Aréna.
Dembélé's calf, and the substitution that started it
Dembélé came off after 27 minutes of PSG's last Ligue 1 game, a 2-1 home defeat to Paris FC, with what the club afterwards described as muscular discomfort in the right calf. The medical statement said the substitution was a precaution and that there was no lesion. Luis Enrique was more direct: "I think it's just fatigue." Dembélé himself echoed that earlier this week, saying he was doing very well and would be ready for the final.
None of that has stopped PSG putting him on a separate training programme. He has not joined full team sessions and was absent from the in-house friendly the squad played as part of their final preparation. PSG's medical timeline suggests he will return to group training in midweek. Whether he starts is the live question, because he is the side's leading forward and the one who, more than anyone in the squad, has unlocked tight final-third situations all season.
Hakimi is a different kind of question
Achraf Hakimi has not played since the Champions League semi-final first leg against Bayern Munich on 28 April. The injury was a thigh problem sustained in that game. He missed the second leg in Munich and the last four Ligue 1 matches as well. PSG's update this week is that he is expected to return to training before the final, but a full ninety-minute start is described as unlikely.
For PSG that matters more than usual. Hakimi has been one of the two or three most important players in the side this year, both as the right-back who underwrites the high press and as the runner who turns broken-play transitions into chances down the right channel. If he plays from the bench he plays at less than full speed. If he does not play at all, Luis Enrique either deploys a natural full-back behind a more conservative right-side structure or rebuilds the wider system around it. Neither option matches what PSG have built since Christmas.
The four bordering cases
The other four on the list are softer. Lucas Chevalier is the doubtful one with a hamstring issue, though that is a goalkeeping-cover question rather than a starting-XI one, with Matvey Safonov in form and locked in as the first-choice keeper since taking over from Chevalier in the league phase. Quentin Ndjantou (hamstring), Nuno Mendes (thigh) and William Pacho (thigh) are all expected to make it back in time, with PSG's training plan this week designed around getting them sharp without aggravating anything.
The list is not unusual for the end of a long campaign. PSG come into the final week off heavy cumulative load across Ligue 1, the Champions League, the Coupe de France and the Trophée des Champions. The medical staff's job between now and Saturday is to be conservative without losing the starting eleven.
What it changes about Saturday
A fully fit PSG go into Budapest as favourites against an Arsenal side that has been managing its own injury list, with Ben White out and Jurriën Timber a doubt. Without Hakimi from the start, PSG's wide channels look different. Without Dembélé, the picture changes more sharply, because there is no like-for-like replacement for what he brings between the lines. Luis Enrique is unlikely to disclose which scenario he is planning around until the lineup is filed an hour before kickoff. The smart guess is that PSG will start with as many of the named six as the medical staff signs off on, even if that means using substitutions earlier than usual.
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