Lionel Messi doubtful for Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League clash with Bayern Munich due to injury – report

Paris Saint-Germain’s issues ahead of their Champions League clash with Bayern Munich have increased with the news Lionel Messi has emerged as a doubt with a hamstring problem.

The French champions are facing up to the prospect of taking on Bayern without Kylian Mbappe who emerged as a major doubt for the first leg on February 14 on account of a thigh injury.

The French publication said Messi picked up the issue in the Coupe de France loss to Marseille on Wednesday.

L’Equipe reports Messi has been ruled out of the Ligue 1 clash with Monaco at the weekend, and faces a race to be fit for the meeting with Bayern next week.

The developments are sure to be monitored with interest in the corridors at the Allianz Arena.

Bayern boss Julian Nagelsmann took the reports of Mbappe’s injury with a pinch of salt.

When asked last week about the reports that Mbappe would not be fit for the first leg of the round of 16 clash in the Champions League, Nagelsmann said: “I don’t think he will be missing [against Bayern] so I expect nothing else.

“I don’t know what he has so I assume he will play. It is a bit vague on their [PSG’s] homepage saying he would be out for up to three weeks.

“If there is no structural injury I can’t see him missing the game. It is too early to say already now that he won’t play if there is no structural injury.”

PSG welcome Bayern to the French capital on Tuesday before travelling to Munich for the second leg on March 8.

The Champions League remains the big target for PSG’s Qatari owners.

Despite shelling out vast sums on players who have helped the team dominate on the domestic front, PSG have not cracked the code in Europe’s premier club competition.

They came close to getting over the line in 2020, but were beaten 1-0 in the final by Bayern.