PSG suffer major injury ahead of Champions League clash vs Barcelona: Key player joins Dembele out

Paris Saint-Germain are preparing for a crucial UEFA Champions League matchup: they will visit Barcelona next Wednesday for Matchday 2 of the league phase. For that game, Ousmane Dembele will be out due to physical issues — and now another key member of the squad has joined him on the sidelines.

“Marquinhos will undergo treatment on a left thigh injury over the next few weeks,” PSG announced Friday via their official website — news that undoubtedly left French fans concerned.

The Brazilian defender is a vital piece for PSG. Not only is he the team’s captain, but his versatility allows coach Luis Enrique to deploy him in multiple roles depending on the tactical needs of each match. In fact, during Monday’s game against Olympique Marseille, he started at right-back in place of Achraf Hakimi.

PSG’s brief statement didn’t include much detail about how long Marquinhos will be sidelined. However, by confirming the injury will require more than a week of recovery, he has been officially ruled out of both Saturday’s Ligue 1 match against Auxerre and the Champions League clash with Barcelona.

PSG’s injury list

Marquinhos isn’t the only injury concern for Luis Enrique. The most significant absence remains Ousmane Dembele, the 2025 Ballon d’Or winner, who has been out for several weeks due to a hamstring injury suffered while playing for the French national team during the September international break.

In addition to Dembele, two other PSG players have also been unavailable in recent matches. Desire Doue has been sidelined for several weeks with a calf injury and is expected to return in early October. Joao Neves, meanwhile, suffered a left hamstring injury against Atalanta last week and is still not fully recovered.

Barcelona have issues too

With just under a week to go before this key Champions League showdown, PSG are not the only side dealing with injury problems. While Barcelona did get a boost with the return of Lamine Yamal to training, they lost two key players.

“Player Raphinha has an injury to the middle third of the femoral biceps in his right thigh. The estimated recovery time is around 3 weeks,” the Catalan side announced Friday. That rules the Brazilian winger out of the match against PSG. The same goes for Joan Garcia, who “suffered a tear of the internal meniscus in his left knee.” The goalkeeper will undergo arthroscopic surgery and is expected to need between four and six weeks to recover.