Injured thigh, Dembélé to miss three weeks and France squad

Ousmane Dembélé has a left thigh injury sustained during the match against FC Barcelona and will be unavailable for several weeks. Paris Saint-Germain confirmed the day after the game that their forward “will remain in care over the coming weeks”, with the absence estimated at around three weeks.

If this timeline holds, Dembélé will miss the next three Ligue 1 matchdays — against Lyon, Le Havre and Troyes — as well as the trip to Villarreal in the Champions League. His return is expected for the home fixture against Nice on 21 November, following the international break.

The injury comes at a particularly bad time for the France team. Zinédine Zidane is to announce his squad list in two weeks, and Dembélé will likely not have played by then. The manager should opt for caution, as he did in September with Aurélien Tchouameni. The Blues will therefore have to do without their forward for their final two group-stage matches in the Nations League, in Italy and against Turkey.

Dembélé’s absence takes on added significance given the competition in attack. During the last international window, Désiré Doué and Michael Olise impressed to the point of reigniting debate over the composition of the attacking trio. A battle seemed to be shaping up between Dembélé and Kylian Mbappé for the central position. The Real Madrid player will have the chance to assert himself in November, while Dembélé, forced to rest, risks seeing the lines redrawn without him.