PSG v Barcelona: Nuno Mendes out, Lamine Yamal’s Barça come to the Parc

Paris Saint-Germain will host Barcelona on Tuesday night in the league phase of the Champions League, without Nuno Mendes. Taken off in the 87th minute at Strasbourg on Saturday, the left-back is set to miss the game with a thigh muscle injury. The club has confirmed nothing: Le Parisien reports that scans showed a different diagnosis to the first assessments and a recovery window too short for Tuesday, meaning Mendes misses out short of a miracle.

A thigh gives way at the worst time

It moved fast. On Saturday night, Luis Enrique spoke of a minor physical problem and refused to take risks. On Sunday morning, the complaint seemed harmless. By Sunday afternoon, the tone had changed: scans, a different diagnosis, no time to heal before Tuesday. Lucas Digne is in line for the flank, with Warren Zaïre-Emery as a stopgap. The uncertainty goes further: Maghnes Akliouche, whose left ankle was caught by an unpunished tackle at the Meinau, was still waiting for his results on Sunday evening.

The flick nobody saw coming

On the other side, the man of the moment is Lamine Yamal. Against Galatasaray last Tuesday, he wrong-footed Eren Elmali with a rainbow-flick feint on 53 minutes and set up Anthony Gordon: a 4-1 win, two assists, man of the match. On CBS Sports Golazo, he explained that he had noticed defenders going to ground when Barcelona played in behind, and saw the chance to release the ball. On Movistar, he called the move “almost a rabona”.

Mario Lemina has learned who Yamal is. Asked before the game about the Barcelona man or his own teammate Leroy Sané, he said he knew Sané but not Yamal. After the win, Yamal replied on Instagram: “Does he know me now?” Lemina defused it: “Of course I know you. My youngest is crazy about you. Bravo, Lamine Yamal.”

Ten wins and a cancelled flight

Barcelona keep winning anywhere: a 5-2 victory at Real Betis on Saturday, with a Yamal goal, a tenth straight win and 38 goals in nine La Liga games. The journey home was another matter: the flight was cancelled because of a storm over Catalonia, three hours on the plane, a night in Andalusia, a disrupted Sunday training session and the option of a direct flight to Paris. Hansi Flick took Yamal off for the last half hour to rest him. “When you see the first goal he scored, it is incredible: he is without question the best player in the world right now,” he said after the match.

PSG finished their week on the right side: a 3-1 win at Strasbourg on Saturday and top spot in Ligue 1 (see our match preview). Without Mendes, and perhaps without Akliouche, Luis Enrique has to rebuild his left flank two days out. Akliouche’s scan results and Tuesday’s team sheet are the two questions left.