Thomas Tuchel has cast doubt on Neymar’s ability to play for Paris Saint-Germain in Tuesday’s Champions League meeting with Borussia Dortmund.
The Brazil international star has missed the last four matches because of a rib injury sustained in a recent Ligue 1 victory against Montpellier but was expected to be available for Saturday’s Ligue 1 encounter against Amiens.
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Neymar, however, missed the 4-4 draw, and while Kylian Mbappe and others were rested, it was suggested that PSG did not want to take any risks over the world’s most expensive player.
This was confirmed on Saturday, when Tuchel suggested that Neymar is a doubt for the midweek trip to face the Bundesliga side.
“I can’t say today,” he replied when asked by Canal+ to confirm the status of the striker, who has scored 15 goals in 18 matches this season. “We’ll have to wait until tomorrow’s training session. We have to check everyone tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, he confessed that he found Saturday’s performance below par, although he was keen to stress that the midweek game was the important one in his eyes.
“We weren’t focused enough at the start of the match, that’s all,” he said. “It shows that we’ve played 21 or 22 games while being very strong and focused, but today was not like that.
“There are reasons. We chose to have absentees, we left a lot of players at home. It’s normal, it’s a situation before a decisive match in the Champions League. Because of that, we didn’t find our real mentality in this match.”
PSG had won their previous 10 matches prior to Saturday’s trip to Stade de la Licorne, with a 3-3 draw against Monaco in January the last time they had dropped points in the league.
The Ligue 1 leaders will travel to face BVB in midweek without the injured Abdou Diallo and Colin Dagba, while they will also need to check on the fitness of Presnel Kimpembe, who was absent for the weekend’s fixture.
PSG won Group A of the Champions League, winning five of their six matches and conceding only two goals in the process. Their standout result was a 3-0 home victory over Real Madrid in their opening fixture of the campaign.