As the saying goes: They might have won the battle, but they lost the war. For the first time in several seasons, Le Classique truly lived up to its billing as a potential title decided as Olympique Marseille welcomed Paris Saint-Germain this past Sunday.
Although the match ended in favour of Les Parisiens as they seek to defend their league crown, the win came at a huge cost for Laurent Blanc's side. Striker Edinson Cavani, who has been linked with a move away from the Parc des Princes this summer, will not feature in today's Coupe de France clash with Saint-Etienne. Neither will veteran midfielder Thiago Motta, who has struggled with fitness woes over the course of the past few seasons and is set to miss 10 days.
But what will truly worry PSG fans is the long-term absence of David Luiz, as the Brazilian is reportedly due to miss a month of action after pulling his hamstring this weekend. Criticised often due to some of his positional awareness, the former Chelsea man has been simply in top form for his side, with a quality performance against his ex-teammates in the Champions League as his goal contributed to knock the Blues out of the competition.
The moment that had PSG fans' hearts in their stomachs:
33' @DavidLuiz_4 crumples to the floor with a hamstring pull #OMPSG
— PSG English (@PSG_English) April 5, 2015
And the worst fears have come to pass with bad news: David Luiz is set to miss at least four weeks
His absence was immediately felt as the 27-year-old was taken off in the 34th minute. Although teammate Blaise Matuidi scored a minute later to equalise following Andre-Pierre Gignac's 30th minute strike, he struck back again shortly before the first half to make it 2-1 as the visitors looked rattled.
Largely appearing devoid of confidence, they needed an own goal from Jérémy Morel early in what was a rather contentious second half to ensure that they left the Vélodrome with all three points and to stay just one point ahead of Lyon in the title race.
In his pre-match press conference prior to this match, Blanc broke down the estimated time-frames of absence for several of his key players:
"Unfortunately we were hit by some injuries in Marseille but we have to make the best of it. There has been talk in the media in last few hours, and I can confirm that we're expecting a ten-day absence for Thiago Motta and four weeks for David Luiz," the French tactician addressed reporters.
"Edinson Cavani will not be available to take on Saint-Etienne as he was taken off in the match at the Vélodrome as a precautionary measure; he's also suffering from a thigh complaint."
PSG are still on track for a domestic treble as they will face Bastia in the Coupe de la Ligue this weekend, and in terms of head to head against Saint-Etienne, they have defeated their upcoming opponents five times in their last five meetings across all competitions, conceding just one goal in the process.
However, the game they will be most dreading will be the one against Barcelona a week from now. The tie between the Catalan giants and the French powerhouse appeared initially to be nicely poised, but surely Blaugrana supporters will really be already envisioning their squad in the semi-finals with this huge injury blow for the Ligue 1 champions.
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