PSG Injuries in Caen Draw Serve as Poor Preparation for Chelsea

Paris Saint-Germain warmed up for their UEFA Champions League last-16 clash with Chelsea next week in the worst possible way—being held to a 2-2 draw at home by Stade Malherbe Caen at Parc des Princes on Saturday.

The French champions finished the game with nine men even though they did not have anybody sent off, with the visitors scoring twice in the dying stages of the contest. A bizarre afternoon saw Laurent Blanc's men drop like flies in front of him, with no fewer than four of his stars leaving the pitch injured during the 90 minutes.

Le President could not get his head around the loss of two valuable points and key players to injury, as he revealed when he spoke with PSG.fr (in French) shortly after the match.

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Nobody could have expected the encounter would finish in such a dramatic way after a dominant first-half performance from Les Parisiens, though.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic volleyed PSG into an early lead, meeting Serge Aurier's inch-perfect cross from the right to score just his fourth Ligue 1 goal from open play this season. Then five minutes before half-time, Ezequiel Lavezzi fired in his second league goal in his last three appearances with a strong, angled drive past Remy Vercoutre in the Caen goal.

Disaster had already started to hit by that point, though. Yohan Cabaye, the architect of the PSG opener with an excellent diagonal pass, was forced off after 15 minutes and replaced by Adrien Rabiot.

The talented teenage midfielder also took a knock before the break but would go on to complete the match.

Marquinhos, playing in central defence in place of the rested David Luiz, was the next to fall victim to Saturday's inexplicable string of injuries. The Brazilian had to be withdrawn at half-time with a thigh complaint and was replaced by the team-mate he was supposed to be handing a breather.

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Despite that, things still looked relatively comfortable for PSG at the start of the second half. Caen rarely threatened, and a third for the hosts looked more likely than a goal for the visitors as the game headed towards its conclusion.

The changing point of the match, though, arguably came in the 66th minute, when Blaise Matuidi had to come off with yet another injury. Moments later, Aurier—moved to central defence with the introduction of Gregory van der Wiel in Matuidi's place—went down with nobody around him and had to be stretchered off.

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For the final 21 minutes, PSG were playing with 10 men but still looked able to cope. That got worse soon after, though, with Lucas Moura pulling up short with an adductor problem that caused him to immediately signal to the bench that he needed to exit the pitch.

The Brazilian did hobble off in tears, leaving the hosts down to nine men as the game took a cruel twist.

More drama swiftly followed. Emiliano Sala, derided in Le Championnat for his soul-destroying miss in the 1-0 home win over AS Saint-Etienne earlier this month, pulled a goal back for Caen in the final minute of the 90 to set up a nervy finish.

Then, two minutes into the three added on at the end of the match, Herve Bazile crashed in an excellent free-kick to salvage a point for Patrice Garande's jubilant side in a game they looked dead and buried in—even at 10 men against 11.

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Nobody can argue that being forced to voluntarily go down to nine men was not a major contributing factor in both of Caen's late goals, but questions must still be asked of the PSG defence on both.

Ibrahimovic, in particular, has a lot to account for, as it was his foul that gave away the free-kick Bazile scored from. The Swede was also at fault for Sala's goal. Thiago Silva can also be questioned, as he charged out of defence with the ball and gifted Caen possession that eventually led to Ibrahimovic's foul and the free-kick.

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To compound matters, the PSG No. 10 picked up a booking for his shirtless celebration and will now miss Les Parisiens' trip to face AS Monaco in Le Championnat at the start of next month.

All in all, an extremely costly afternoon for PSG, with up to seven first-team regulars now likely to miss out against Chelsea. As well as Cabaye, Marquinhos, Matuidi, Aurier and Lucas, Maxwell appeared to pick up a knock against Caen, and Javier Pastore is already struggling with a calf problem.

It was about as far from ideal preparation as it could get for Blanc and his players, and it could cost them dearly in both Ligue 1 and the Champions League.