Paris Saint-Germain will be without Yohan Cabaye, Marquinhos, Serge Aurier and Lucas, for the first leg of their Champions League last 16 clash with Chelsea on Tuesday.
The four players came off injured in PSG’s 2-2 draw with Caen at the Parc des Princes on Saturday and have been ruled out of the crucial encounter.
Blaise Matuidi also picked up a minor knock, as the Ligue 1 champions finished the game with nine men on the pitch.
“We have four players (Marquinhos, Cabaye, Aurier and Lucas) that will certainly absent against Chelsea,” PSG coach Laurent Blanc said. “Matuidi is less of a concern.
“It’s a very hard scenario to accept, especially in terms of the score and the injured players. During that that game, apart from the first 20 minutes, we were in trouble all the time because of these injuries.”
PSG are already without creative midfielder Javier Pastore, but Blanc is hoping his team can draw strength from a period of adversity.
“Psychologically, what happened today will play a part [in the Chelsea game] but we just had a lot of bad luck,” he added.
“So, perhaps this [scenario] will motivate us. We have also seen how the public got behind us today and that’s very important. So, we can take some positives out of the situation.
“Against Chelsea, we may be weakened, but what is certain is that we will play boldly, even if we do have fewer options because of the injuries.”
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