Kylian Mbappe faces three weeks out with a thigh injury and will miss the first leg of Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League last-16 tie against Bayern Munich on February 14, his club announced yesterday. The France star was hurt during the first half of Wednesday’s 3-1 win at Montpellier in Ligue 1 having earlier had two penalties saved.
PSG coach Christophe Galtier had initially suggested Mbappe had suffered a knock to the back of the knee rather than a muscle injury, but tests have since confirmed the true extent of the problem. “After undergoing tests, Kylian Mbappe suffered an injury to the left thigh at the level of the femoral biceps,” said a club statement.
If he misses three weeks as expected, Mbappe can also expect to sit out next midweek’s French Cup last-16 tie against Marseille and faces a race against time to return for a potentially pivotal Ligue 1 game away to the same opponents at the end of this month.
However, PSG will hope that Mbappe, who has scored 25 goals in 26 appearances for his club this season, will be fit for the second leg against Bayern in Germany on March 8. The news is a bitter blow for the French giants, who are desperate to avoid a repeat of what happened last season when they were knocked out of the Champions League in the last 16 by Real Madrid.
The Qatar-owned club have become used to injury crises involving their star players ahead of key Champions League games in recent years. A fractured metatarsal prevented Neymar from playing a full part in a last-16 defeat to Madrid in 2018 and a similar problem ruled him out of their loss to Manchester United at the same stage a year later.
PSG are hoping to win European club football’s most prestigious competition for the first time after over a decade of trying since the Qatari takeover of 2011. They have been eliminated in the last 16 in four of the last six seasons, although they reached the final in 2020, losing to Bayern in Lisbon, and were beaten semi-finalists a year later.
PSG convinced Mbappe to stay at the club last year and sign a new contract despite interest in him from Real as they hoped he would lead them to glory in Europe. Mbappe’s injury comes just over a month after he starred at the World Cup in Qatar, finishing as the tournament’s top scorer with eight goals including a hat-trick in the final, which France lost on penalties to Argentina.
The timing is even more of a blow for PSG after they endured a frustrating end to the January transfer window on Tuesday when they failed to process the paperwork to complete the loan signing of Hakim Ziyech from Chelsea. The Moroccan winger had already passed a medical and was set to add an extra option in attack for Galtier after the departure of another forward, Pablo Sarabia, to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
On Wednesday, PSG extended their lead at the top of Ligue 1 with a 3-1 win at Montpellier. Mbappe had an eighth-minute spot-kick saved by Montpellier’s Benjamin Lecomte and then remarkably saw his second attempt turned onto the post by the goalkeeper after the referee ordered a retake.
After winning just one of their last four league games, Wednesday’s awkward trip for PSG saw them also lose Sergio Ramos to injury and have two goals disallowed before Fabian Ruiz put them ahead 10 minutes into the second half. Ruiz then set up Lionel Messi to make it 2-0 with a deft finish in the 72nd minute, the Argentine scoring his 14th club goal of the season.
Sixteen-year-old midfielder Warren Zaire-Emery made sure of the win in stoppage time after Arnaud Nordin had pulled one back. PSG, who were without the rested Neymar, extended their lead at the top of the table from three to five points after Lens lost 1-0 at home to Nice.
“It was a good performance in general,” Galtier said. “There was an incredible scenario in the first half with the retaken penalty, we hit the post, had goals disallowed and two injuries because Sergio Ramos was involved in a collision and on falling he hurt his adductor, but apparently it is nothing serious.”
Gaetan Laborde scored the only goal of the game for Nice as Lens dropped points at home for the first time this season after winning all 10 previous matches there.
Marseille climbed above Lens into second place thanks to a 2-0 victory at Nantes earlier, secured by an own goal from Joao Victor and then a late strike by Azzedine Ounahi, the Moroccan World Cup star making his debut after signing in the January window.
Monaco in fourth beat Auxerre 3-2, while fifth-placed Rennes eased to a 3-0 win against struggling Strasbourg.
On-loan Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun followed up his last-gasp equaliser against PSG at the weekend by netting a hat-trick as Reims came from two goals down to beat Lorient 4-2 and extend their unbeaten run to 15 games.
Bottom side Angers suffered a new French top-flight record 13th consecutive defeat as they conceded in stoppage time to lose 2-1 at home to Ajaccio. That result leaves them 11 points from safety.