Paris Saint-Germain have been given a major injury boost ahead of their Champions League semi-final second leg clash with Arsenal, with Ousmane Dembele fit to play.
Luis Enrique’s side go into the game 1-0 up following their first leg victory at the Emirates last week, and will only need to avoid defeat if they are to reach the final and face either Inter Milan or Barcelona.
PSG have proven themselves to be one of the form teams in the competition, beating the likes of Liverpool and Aston Villa on their ways to the last-four, where they were drawn against another English club.
And they showed up again at the Emirates last week, with Ousmane Dembele scoring the only goal of the game – in the opening minutes – as the Gunners struggled on their own turf.
There was a slight worry for the French champions, though, when Dembele went off injured with 20 minutes left in the tie. He has not played for his team since, sitting out of their 2-1 defeat by Strasbourg at the weekend.
Their star man, though, will be fit to play in the second leg, Luis Enrique has confirmed, giving Arsenal a blow ahead of the biggest game of their season so far.
Ousmane Dembele (right) will be fit to face Arsenal in the Champions League on Wednesday
The forward has been training with his team for the last two days after a hamstring issue
PSG boss Luis Enrique confirmed he will have his star man available as he looks to secure a spot in the Champions League final
‘He’s been training with the group for two days,’ Enrique said in his pre-match press conference. ‘I have him at my disposal tomorrow.’
Dembele has been emblematic of the transformation of Luis Enrique’s side since the turn of the year and has registered 33 goals and 10 assists in all competitions this term.
In a medical update on Friday, a statement from the French giants read: ‘Ousmane Dembele has strained his right hamstring. His condition in progressing well. A further assessment will be carried out shortly.’
Enrique confirmed that Dembele would not play in PSG’s game against Strasbourg this weekend, with the league title already confirmed.
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The Frenchman gave a rather optimistic forecast of his condition after the win over the Gunners, insisting that he was ‘OK’ despite feeling ‘a little something’.
Enrique added: ‘We’re going to try to get Dembele back on the pitch. If Ousmane can play, that’s better, not if he doesn’t, we’ll still be a real team. We’ve been saying that since the start of the season.’
The likes Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskheila would have had to have stepped up had Dembele missed out, but the former Barcelona star will now likely start the tie.
Kvaratskheila was one of 10 players who dropped out of the starting XI at the weekend, with only Joao Neves retained from the win over Arsenal. He remained on the bench, while Doue got half an hour.
