Ousmane Dembélé, the 28-year-old forward for Paris Saint-Germain, had to come off during the match against Ukraine on Friday evening (2026 World Cup qualifiers) after being substituted on at half-time for Désiré Doué (who had suffered a knock). The reason was a problem with his right hamstring. National team coach Didier Deschamps was asked at the press conference to explain his decision to bring on the player, who had just returned from injury.
Deschamps: “There wasn’t any problem.”
“If I put him on, it meant he was okay; otherwise, I wouldn’t have put him on. Besides, it’s the other leg, even though he didn’t feel anything particularly painful. He was in good shape. Unfortunately for him, this happened, but it could have happened to any player. But I made the decision based on what he felt, and from a medical point of view, there was no problem.”
We can assume that there wasn’t a specific problem; otherwise, bringing on Dembélé would have been completely reckless. And there was a bit of bad luck, since the player got injured on the other side. However, it’s also about being cautious and minimizing the risk of injury.
Dembélé only had one team training session, and everyone knows he’s prone to injuries. This is especially true at the start of the season, with PSG having had a shortened pre-season. Deschamps had some good options on the bench (Marcus Thuram, Maghnes Akliouche, and Hugo Ekitike), so it was possible to do things differently. In fact, this sends a certain message to those players: it’s better to have someone who has been doubtful all week. Not exactly the kind of message to boost their confidence.
In any case, Dembélé will now have an MRI scan. We can only hope that the injury is minor.
