Paris Saint-Germain has been plagued by injuries this season. The sobering 1-1 draw in Lorient on Wednesday was followed by another shock: Desiré Doué has been injured again—and this time it looks even worse.
The French champions have lost the ease that had distinguished PSG last season. Wednesday evening’s 1-1 draw in Lorient was their third league draw in the last four games.
Coach Luis Enrique in particular seemed fed up: “We played a very poor first half and didn’t create any chances. We improved a little in the second half, but not enough to win this game.“
The ”deep-lying“ opponent should not be an excuse in the end. It is difficult ”when you don’t have one-on-one situations, when you don’t have the usual running patterns, when there is a lack of mobility.”
The good mood before the game—PSG had strung together two convincing competitive wins—has already evaporated. Luis Enrique was particularly pleased about further returns from injury and said: “I hope that all players will be available to me as soon as possible, that’s important for us.”
The fact that the next sensitive personnel setback came in Lorient was fitting for the bitter evening at Le Moustoir. After an hour, the exceptional Désiré Doué was left lying on the pitch before being carried off on a stretcher in tears. He buried his face in his hands.
Shielded by three security guards
Doué was treated at the stadium for a long time before three security guards shielded him and took him to the team bus. According to consistent French media reports, it is likely to be a serious muscle injury in his right thigh, which could even cost Doué the rest of the calendar year.
Doué will definitely miss the next important and difficult games: in the coming days, the team will face Nice (H) and Lyon (A) in the league, with a Champions League home game against the currently undefeated Bayern in between.
A calf injury has already cost Doué, who came through last season unscathed, a month and a half since the beginning of September. His return in October with two assists against Strasbourg (3-3), two goals in Leverkusen (7-2) and one in Brest (3-0) was promising.
“Injuries are always bad news,” Luis Enrique said late Wednesday evening regarding Doué: “It’s a strange injury and I don’t know exactly what his condition is. I hope it’s not a serious injury.” Given Doué’s reaction, that may remain a pipe dream.
