Kylian Mbappe is only on the bench for Paris Saint-Germain in tonight’s Champions League semi-final second-leg clash against Manchester City.
Mbappe suffered a calf injury that saw him omitted for Saturday’s 2-1 win over Lens in Ligue 1, and is only fit enough to be a substitute at the Etihad.
Mbappe was forced off late on with a thigh injury after scoring a brace in the 3-1 victory against Metz on April 24 and subsequently endured an uncharacteristically quiet first leg against City at the Parc des Princes, failing to muster a single shot in a European game that he has started for the very first time in his career.
The 22-year-old was largely held in check by another colossal performance from Ruben Dias as City recovered from Marquinhos’ early header to win 2-1 in Paris thanks to a Kevin De Bruyne cross that evaded everyone before drifting beyond Keylor Navas and Riyad Mahrez’s free-kick that went straight through a gap in the PSG wall.
PSG’s chances of overturning such a deficit have therefore been dealt a sizable blow with Mbappe unable to start.
Mauricio Pochettino has instead gone with a front four of Neymar, Marco Verratti, Angel Di Maria and Mauro Icardi.
PSG XI: Navas, Florenzi, Marquinhos, Kimpembe, Diallo, Paredes, Verratti,, Di Maria, Verratti, Neymar, Icardi
Subs: Rico, Randrimamy, Kehrer, Mbappe, Rafinha, Danilo, Kean, Sarabia, Kurzawa, Draxler, Bakker, Dagba
PSG travelling squad: Keylor Navas, Sergio Rico, Mathyas Randriamamy, Yanis Saidani, Colin Dagba, Alessandro Florenzi, Mitchel Bakker, Marquinhos, Presnel Kimpembe, Laywin Kurzawa, Abdou Diallo, Thilo Kehrer, Leandro Paredes, Marco Verratti, Danilo Pereira, Rafinha Alcantara, Ander Herrera, Julian Draxler, Moise Kean, Kylian Mbappe, Mauro Icardi, Pablo Sarabia, Neymar
