The Paris Saint-Germain manager Laurent Blanc has said it would take “a minor miracle” for Thiago Motta to be passed fit to start the quarter-final against Barcelona on Wednesday, leaving his options severely limited for the first leg at Parc des Princes.
Motta, a European Cup winner with Internazionale and Barça, and a key performer when PSG prevailed on away goals against Chelsea in the first knockout round, damaged his hamstring in the win at Marseille 10 days ago. The Italy international returned to training on Monday, slightly earlier than had been anticipated. It prompted hopes Motta might be available but, while he will be assessed again on Tuesday afternoon, Blanc has offered a more realistic assessment of his chances.
“Thiago Motta started training again with us on Monday, which is a good thing,” said the PSG manager. “When we saw him leaving the pitch against Marseille 10 days ago, we thought that it was quite a serious injury, so to have him back with the group is a big boost. It’s clearly less serious than we’d initially feared but it would still take a minor miracle for him to be able to start against Barcelona.”
PSG won the French League Cup at the weekend, are in the final of the French Cup next month and are top of Ligue 1 by a point, but competing on four fronts is starting to take its toll. David Luiz also damaged his hamstring against Marseille and he will at best be available for next week’s return fixture at Camp Nou. The French champions are also without Zlatan Ibrahimovic following his sending off at Stamford Bridge, while Marco Verratti is serving a one-match ban, Serge Aurier is starting a three-game suspension, and Lucas Moura is not fully fit after groin trouble.
The Brazilian winger, who was injured against Caen on 14 February, will play some part on Wednesday albeit most likely from the bench, with necessity forcing Blanc’s hand. “He’s not quite there yet, physically, that’s a fact,” the manager said. “He missed two months but we don’t have a lot of options given the injuries and suspensions we have. It would have been better to give him a game in the reserves to find his rhythm again but we don’t have that opportunity.”
Edinson Cavani will lead the line in Ibrahimovic’s absence, flanked by Javier Pastore and Ezequiel Lavezzi.
