All PSG players expecting ‘physical backlash’ as doctor warns against fear of injury | OneFootball

Paris Saint-Germain have been paying the price for their success last season in the opening weeks of the current campaign.

PSG’s 2024/25 campaign was elongated. Not only did Luis Enrique’s side go all the way in the UEFA Champions League, they also reached the final of the FIFA Club World Cup, before coming unstuck against Chelsea. It meant that their season ended in mid-July.

As a result, their pre-season started on 6th August, just one week before their first competitive match of the season, the UEFA Super Cup against Tottenham Hotspur. PSG went on to win the game on penalties.

However, there has been a spate of injuries in recent weeks. Ousmane Dembélé and Désiré Doué were both injured on international duty. On Sunday, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Lee Kang-in, and Lucas Beraldo all came off injured in a 2-0 win over RC Lens.

‘Being scared of something is the best way of provoking it’

The former two are expected to make a swift return, perhaps as soon as tomorrow’s Champions League opener against Atalanta. However, there are fears that the same fate could befall all players in the squad at some point over the course of the season.

“They know they’ll all go through it. With what they experienced, from the point of view of rhythm, emotion, and intensity, there will be a physical backlash,” the representative of a key member of the PSG squad told L’Équipe.

A fear of getting injured, a doctor within the field of sports science, could be problematic. “Being scared of something is the best way of provoking it,” the former mental trainer of the French basketball team says. “When someone is scared, it gives a signal to the brain to be vigilant, so vigilant that it can turn into expecting an injury. Your whole brain then works to prevent it. You put yourself into such a mental and physical state that it can come down on you.”

GFFN | Luke Entwistle