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Tuchel gives Mbappe injury update with PSG star out of Champions League clash as boss calls for 'team effort'
The striker joined team-mate Neymar on the sidelines with a knock sustained against Nantes, although he is expected to rejoin the first team shortly
Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe shouldn't be on the sidelines for long despite having not recovered from injury in time to meet RB Leipzig in Wednesday's Champions League clash, coach Thomas Tuchel has said.
The Germans host PSG in a re-run of August's semi-final, which was won by the Parisians 3-0 to book their place in the decider against Bayern Munich.
This time round, however, they will be without both Neymar and Mbappe, who have both succumbed to physical troubles.
Neymar suffered a groin injury last week against Basaksehir which is expected to keep the Brazilian sidelined until after the November international break, and while Mbappe's muscular complaint, sustained at the weekend in PSG's victory over Nantes, is not as severe, he will not be risked for the midweek fixture.
"It will not be longer. The injury is very minor," Tuchel explained to reporters when asked if Mbappe would also miss several matches for his club. "Unfortunately, he is in a risk zone. The doctor explained this to me. He couldn't be with the team, it's a shame for us.
"We can't take risks, that would have been too much, and we have to find solutions without Kylian.
"We will have eleven key players tomorrow and we will do it as a team. If you read the list of absentees and the squad that is there, it's not going to be a big secret to know who starts tomorrow, you have to trust the eleven players. It will be a team effort."
While Tuchel emphasised the importance of PSG's collective effort in overcoming the loss of Neymar and Mbappe, he also admitted that the performance of Angel Di Maria, one of the stars of the club's journey to the final in August, would be crucial - although the Argentine has been short of match practice recently after a lengthy suspension.
"He's still a key player, but he also lacks rhythm. We shouldn't expect too much from him, he was suspended for four matches," the coach added. "He needs rhythm, he likes to play a lot to gain confidence in dribbling and finishing. He only played the Champions League for us and I don't want to put all the pressure on him even though he's still a very important player."
