Calf-injured Marco Verratti and suspended Angel Di Maria are sure to miss the Champions League quarter-final against Atalanta Bergamo on Wednesday in Lisbon, Portugal. Doubt still envelops the presence of Kylian Mbappé, at worst on the sidelines. Or two to three players absent from PSG for a decisive meeting.
In 2020, the club of the capital respects its recent history, with roughly the same proportion each time since its return to C1 in 2013. It thus appeared in 2015 against Barcelona in the quarter-finals without Ibrahimovic, without Verratti and without Thiago Motta. These three indisputable holders of the time were injured.
“Petit Hibou” is a specialist in failed summits. He was not there either a year later at the same stage of the event against Manchester City, on the first leg as well as on the return leg. This season, Verratti has already missed the round of 16 second leg against Dortmund due to suspension. Present at the club for eight years, he could speak with precision about this avalanche of injuries which deprives each time the teams of Laurent Blanc, Unai Emery or Thomas Tuchel of some of his best elements.
The 27-year-old Italian must know what is wrong: healthy lifestyle (he has his reputation in this area), too frequent changes of technical staff with very different preparation methods, multiplication of chief doctors in recent years (three in two years), harshness of Ligue 1 more brutal than other championships?
The thesis of the fault of bad luck can no longer hold
The reasons are multiple and can accumulate. Jean-Louis Gasset, Blanc’s deputy between 2013 and 2016, had conducted an internal audit to find the foundations of these successive hecatombs, which swept through all positions and all players, all body types and all those in charge. The bad luck thesis can no longer hold up with so many different cases over such a long period.
The term curse is a shorthand that covers all hard hits without defining the source. In short, the investigation continues. Until the day when Paris will play a full rocking match. If he qualifies for the first QSI-era Champions League semi-final on August 18, he could get Di Maria, Mbappé and Verratti back, which can’t hurt.
