Vitinha overheating: PSG at risk ahead of Classique against Marseille

Vitinha is exhausted. Despite a hard-fought victory at Brest this weekend thanks to a goal from Ferran Torres (0-1), PSG’s Portuguese midfielder delivered a dull performance, symptomatic of fatigue that has been building since the end of last season.

Luis Enrique is renowned for rotating his squad, particularly early in the season. Vitinha is an exception: the Spanish coach grants him virtually no rest time, a sign of the very high regard in which he holds his midfielder. But this absolute confidence comes at a physical cost.

Observer Pierre Ménès highlighted the problem on his YouTube channel. “At PSG, with Luis Enrique who is the emperor of rotation, everyone rotates except Vitinha,” he noted. For him, the player has been overheating well before the start of this campaign: “I would say that for the last two months of last season, he’s been done. It doesn’t show up in the number of touches or kilometres covered, but in terms of intensity, pass quality, risk-taking, ideas with the ball, he’s a shadow of himself.”

The performance at Brest clearly illustrated this dip, according to him. His prescription is straightforward: “He needs to be given a breather.” But the context complicates matters. Joao Neves, another PSG midfielder, is reportedly not in sparkling form either, and Warren Zaïre-Emery, used in several different positions, is struggling to find his bearings.

What could be just an individual dip in form risks weighing on the entire Paris collective. PSG hosts Olympique de Marseille on Sunday at the Vélodrome (20:45) for Matchday 5 of Ligue 1. After three matchdays without a win to open the championship, Luis Enrique’s men cannot afford another poor performance — and Vitinha’s level will be, more than ever, at the heart of the equation.