PSG Dealt Early Blow with News That Lucas Moura Will Miss Chelsea Return
Between now and the second leg of their UEFA Champions League last-16 clash with Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain have a difficult Ligue 1 and Coupe de France double-header against Monaco followed by another league clash with RC Lens.
The defending French champions were hoping to use the three-week gap to nurse some of the injured players who missed the first leg back to fitness in time to play a key role in the decider. Those hopes have already been dashed, though, by the news that Lucas Moura will definitely miss the Stamford Bridge encounter on Wednesday, March 11.
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PSG announced on their official website the Brazil international underwent surgery earlier this week in a bid to fix a problem with his right adductor.
The 22-year-old will now miss a minimum of four weeks of action as a result. This rules him out of the pair of Monaco clashes, the Lens encounter, as well as trips to face Chelsea and Girondins de Bordeaux, and possibly even FC Lorient at home as well.
It is a big blow for PSG coach Laurent Blanc, and one that certainly limits his options ahead of a tough run of games.
First up are Monaco in the principality on Sunday. Buoyed by their impressive 3-1 win away at Arsenal in the Champions League in midweek, Les Monegasques will be keen to build on that display by continuing their good recent unbeaten record against the capital club.
Although Lucas would have been a big boost for his boss, his presence is arguably not vital in either of the meetings with Leonardo Jardim’s men.
Blanc has other options in Ezequiel Lavezzi and Jean-Christophe Bahebeck, both suitable for this Monaco double-header. However, Moura would have been the clear first choice against Chelsea, and now Le President must rethink those plans.
El Pocho might now continue as one of the starting XI front three, with Javier Pastore also coming in for the first and possibly even the second game against the principality outfit. Bahebeck will likely feature in both encounters, but a start in the second game is more probable than playing in the league clash from the off.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be back in time for the visit of Lens to Parc des Princes, but with the Chelsea return leg just days later, Blanc will surely be tempted to rest a number of players. Whoever is not selected to start the Coupe de France tie with Monaco is likely to form the front three, although Bahebeck could be handed a second consecutive starting role in Lucas’ usual berth.
Assuming the Frenchman does start the Lens clash on the right, Lavezzi will reprise that role in London after occupying it for the 1-1 first leg draw in the French capital. Edinson Cavani will start on the left, with Ibrahimovic through the middle in the same front three that kicked-off the two-legged affair at Parc des Princes.
Lavezzi will offer PSG pace, as he did in the first leg, but he cannot offer the searing variety that Lucas provides. The Brazilian is also more creative, a trickier player to mark and—crucially—more clinical in front of goal.
If Moura had been available, he would have offered Blanc a greater threat going forward, especially on the counter-attack.
The Selecao star’s raw pace would have been the perfect weapon to expose a Chelsea defence that looked vulnerable during the first leg, but instead, the PSG tactician will now need to find another way to break the Blues down at Stamford Bridge.
Although this news clearly dents the French giants’ plans for the upcoming run of games, what many people have not considered yet is the bigger picture for the player after this surgery.
Lucas has not played for Brazil since October 2013. New coach Dunga called him up for Selecao Brasileira’s final two friendlies of 2014 as a reward for his improved form this season and to indicate to the PSG man that he had a chance of making it into the 51-year-old’s Copa America plans for this summer.
Moura was desperately unlucky not to make his Brazil return after the heartache of missing the FIFA World Cup on home soil; an injury to his right foot, per Goal, prevented him from featuring against either Turkey or Austria last November.
This time, almost four months later, that same bad luck looks like it will prevent him from linking up with his international team-mates once again.
Dunga is now in a difficult position; the former World Cup-winning captain knows that he has an extremely gifted player available to him, yet he has been unable to see him up close because of these injuries.
That makes it difficult for the Brazilian tactician to seriously consider Lucas as part of his Copa America plans, especially when you consider that the South Americans’ pair of March friendlies—against France and Chile—are currently their last scheduled fixtures before the start of the Copa in mid-June.
More preparatory friendlies might be added before the start of CONMEBOL's continental tournament, but it is not the easiest time to try to integrate a player into the group. Moura's hopes of participating in the event, which happens once every four years, are now in peril.
PSG will likely suffer in Lucas’ absence, particularly against Chelsea, but Les Parisiens are not the only ones who are dealt a blow by this news. Brazil will also see this as a setback, not to mention the player himself after his recent international heartache.
Despite an excellent season so far in Ligue 1, Moura just cannot seem to get that break that will allow him to reassert his claims with the Selecao.
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