With a Champions League last 16 matchup approaching, Paris Saint-Germain does not want to jeopardize Kylian Mbappe’s damaged ankle in Saturday’s Ligue 1 match against Lille.
The injury occurred during PSG’s French Cup semifinal victory against Brest on Thursday, when Mbappe scored the game’s first goal.
“Reassuring” reports emerged from the initial medical examinations, but PSG coach Luis Enrique will not want to take a chance with his key asset before Real Sociedad’s Champions League visit five days later.
On Friday, the player who is rumored to be heading to Real Madrid when his contract expires at the end of the season will undergo more testing.
While Mbappe’s future is uncertain, so too is PSG’s continued presence at their Parc des Princes home.
The club’s bid to buy the stadium from owners the Paris City Council appear to have been quashed after a meeting on Thursday.
“It’s finished now, we want to leave the Parc des Princes,” said the club’s Qatari president Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
Enrique’s team will get a good test from Lille, who are now in fourth place, before the crucial European date on Thursday.
The reason behind Mbappe’s injury was Lilian Brassier, the Brest defender, who received racial abuse on social media after receiving a second yellow card.
Brest, who are atop the third division and play home to Clermont on Sunday, strongly denounced the online harassment that one of their players had been subjected to.
PSG is cruising at the top, eight points ahead of Nice, who are hosting rivals from the south coast, Monaco. PSG is fighting for their third consecutive domestic league triumph and their 12th overall.
Nice, owned by Manchester United’s new stakeholder Jim Ratcliffe of Ineos, thrashed Montpellier 4-1 in the French Cup in midweek.
The only game scheduled on Friday provides Marseille with the ideal chance to win their first game of 2024 when the relegation-threatened Metz visit their Velodrome headquarters.
Marseille is hoping to recover from their loss to Lyon, the fallen giants, last weekend as they go to Montpellier.
A victory would calm tensions at Marseille, the site of multiple crisis meetings as they have dropped to seventh place.
