Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe doubtful to face RB Leipzig

Paris Saint-Germain could be without the services of Kylian Mbappe when they face RB Leipzig on the road in the third matchday of the Champions League group stage.

The 2018 World Cup winner missed the start of the campaign for Les Parisiens after testing positive for COVID-19 and he was unavailable for the first three domestic games, where his club lost twice.

However, since his return, the capital outfit have returned to normalcy in Ligue 1 with a seven-match winning streak and that has propelled them to the top of the standings.

In Europe, however, their fortunes have been mixed. They succumbed to a 2-1 defeat to Manchester United in the curtain-raiser, but made up with a 2-0 win over Istanbul Basaksehir on the road.

Mbappe has already bagged seven goals and seven assists from just eight appearances, but he is deemed doubtful to face Leipzig at the Red Bull Arena on Wednesday night.

The former Monaco graduate was recently seen holding his thigh in the 3-0 win over Nantes, where he scored from the penalty spot. He was substituted 11 minutes from time, but manager Thomas Tuchel suggested that it was due to fatigue.

However, he took no part in the club’s training session on Monday for further treatment on the issue and Goal.com claims that Les Parisiens may have to do without Mbappe for the trip to Leipzig.

Should Mbappe be unavailable, it would definitely be a big blow for the club, who are already without Neymar until mid-November at least after an adductor problem sustained against Basaksehir.

With Mauro Icardi also nursing a knee injury, on-loan Everton striker Moise Kean could once again lead the line for Les Parisiens and it could be a testing challenge for him.

The Italian has excelled since his loan move from the Toffees with four goals from five outings and scored a brace in the 2-0 triumph at Basaksehir last week.

Still, he remains fairly inexperienced at the European stage and will come up against a Leipzig side, who will be fired up after the embarrassing 5-0 to Manchester United last time around.

Both teams are currently on three points after losing one of their games to United, but Les Parisiens have the upper hand with a superior goal difference as things stand.

The head-to-head record, however, has a big part to play in deciding the group in case two teams find themselves with the same number of points.

Hence, Les Parisiens can’t afford any lapses against the Bundesliga outfit, whom they face back-to-back, either side of the international break.

Stats from Transfermarkt.com