A weakened Paris St-Germain will face Manchester United in the first leg of Champions League last-16 fixture without two prolific goalscorers, Edinson Cavani and Neymar who are out due to injuries.
Cavani injured a tendon in his hip after scoring a penalty in Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Bordeaux while Neymar was been ruled out of Tuesday’s first leg and the return game on 6 March following a broken metatarsal he suffered in a 2-0 French Cup victory over Strasbourg on Wednesday, 23 January.
This will leave PSG depending on World Cup-winning forward Kylian Mbappe as the only fit member of their first-choice front three.
However, PSG head coach Thomas Tuchel doesn’t think it’s possible for Mbappe to shoulder the burden of their absences.
“We can’t just place all of the burden and pressure on him,” Tuchel said.
“Kylian has his own qualities, it is not really his job to replace Cavani and Neymar.
“He can’t do all three things at the same time. He can’t be himself and do the other two. He has to be free to play his game, top play with confidence.
“I want us to be capable to help him to find the right support. Provide him with good passes and in my opinion he needs to play with a good mindset.
“He needs to be positive and realize that it is part of his development.
“It is the kind of moments you really are able to develop as a player.”
Tuchel also spoke about the fact that United’s resurgence will be a difficult thing for his side to challenge with on Tuesday night.
“Things are completely different. You can see Manchester United play with a lot of confidence, score a lot of goals, get a lot of early leads. It’s an impressive run,” he added.
“To play in this moment at Old Trafford against Manchester United is again like in our group stage one of the toughest challenges that you can have.
“We were in extremely good shape when we ended our campaign in the group stage, then there was the draw and things have completely changed.”