MX23RW : Monday, December 23 08:37:11| >> :120:29793:29793:
[monks data]
PSG logo
Champions League | Group Stage
Oct 20, 2020 at 8pm UK
Parc des Princes
Manchester United logo

PSG
1 - 2
Man Utd

Martial (55' og.)
Neymar (35'), Pereira (84'), Kean (90')
FT(HT: 0-1)
Fernandes (23' pen.), Rashford (87')
McTominay (36'), Tuanzebe (72')

Manchester United missing key players for Paris Saint-Germain showdown

Harry Maguire and Mason Greenwood miss out through injury and Edinson Cavani needs more training before making his debut.

Manchester United will have to cope with the absence of several star names when they return to Champions League action against Paris St Germain.

Harry Maguire, Mason Greenwood and new signing Edinson Cavani, who will not make his United bow against his former club, are all absent along with Eric Bailly and Jesse Lingard.

The game at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday will be the Red Devils' first at Europe's top table since they bowed out in the quarter-finals against Barcelona in April 2019.

Harry Maguire scored in Saturday's 4-1 win at Newcastle
Harry Maguire scored in Saturday's 4-1 win at Newcastle (Stu Forster/PA)

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side made it that far thanks to a jaw-dropping comeback at PSG in the previous round, with United digging deep to secure a remarkable 3-1 triumph in the French capital without a string of first-team players.

Solskjaer will hope for the same outcome, and the Norwegian said: "We're a little bit depleted but we have got more than enough players.

"We hope the players won't be away for too long. Edinson needs a few more days training before maybe we can think about the weekend. Hopefully Harry, Eric and Mason as well but we're not sure about that."

New boy Cavani is PSG's all-time top scorer but his absence is understandable given he only trained with his new team-mates for the first time on Sunday following a period of quarantine.

Maguire said he was "disappointed" to be missing the Group H opener and "working hard to get back fit ASAP" – with the captain's absence meaning influential January arrival Bruno Fernandes will wear the armband instead.

"We hope Harry will be fit for the weekend (against Chelsea in the Premier League)," Solskjaer said.

"We're not sure but we hope so and the captain sits next to me – Bruno will captain the team (on Tuesday)."

That news came as a surprise to Fernandes, who raised his eyebrows and smiled when Solskjaer announced the news in the pre-match press conference.

"I was not expecting this," the Portugal midfielder said. "I know the same time as you.

Bruno Fernandes has been sublime since joining Manchester United in January
Bruno Fernandes has been sublime since joining Manchester United in January (Alex Pantling/PA)

"For me, it's an honour that I will be captain first of all for my team-mates and of course being captain of Manchester United is an important achievement for me.

"But I think the captain is everyone – everyone needs to help, everyone needs to be a leader in their way."

There has been a certain amount of mystery surrounding the absence of Greenwood, but Solskjaer said: "It's just a niggle and, as young as he is, we don't want to take any chances with him so hopefully the weekend he'll be fine again."

ID:419033: cacheID:419033:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:8544:
Written by
P A
No Data Analysis info
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes celebrates scoring in October 2020
Read Next:
Bruno Fernandes to captain "depleted" Manchester United in Harry Maguire absence
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS

League Phase

TeamPWDLPTS
1AC Milan00000
2Arsenal00000
3Aston Villa00000
4Atalanta00000
5Atletico00000
6Barcelona00000
7B. Leverkusen00000
8Bayern00000
9Benfica00000
10Bologna00000
11Dortmund00000
12Brest00000
13Celtic00000
14Brugge00000
15Dinamo Zagreb00000
16Feyenoord00000
17Girona00000
18Inter Milan00000
19Juventus00000
20Lille00000
21Liverpool00000
22Man City00000
23Monaco00000
24PSV00000
25PSG00000
26RB Leipzig00000
27Real Madrid00000
28Salzburg00000
29Red Star00000
30Shakhtar00000
31Slovan Bratislava00000
32Sparta Prague00000
33Sporting Lisbon00000
34Sturm Graz00000
35Stuttgart00000
36Young Boys00000


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!