Champions League 2025-26: Dembele could return for PSG against Tottenham Hotspur after latest injury layoff

Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele could make his latest comeback in an injury-riddled season when Paris Saint-Germain face Tottenham Hotspur in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.

«We will see tomorrow, but if he has no problems then he will be in the squad,» coach Luis Enrique told reporters on the eve of the match in the French capital.

The 28-year-old Dembele recently won the Ballon d’Or for his outstanding performances last season, but due to various fitness issues, he has only played five games for PSG so far.

His last appearance came in the reigning European champions’ 2-1 home defeat to Bayern Munich three weeks ago, when he lasted just 25 minutes before coming off with a calf problem.

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«Every time a player comes back from injury, it is difficult to know how to deal with it. With Ousmane we will have to be even more careful than usual, even if we want him back,» Luis Enrique added.

PSG, who won their first three appearances in Europe’s elite club competition this season before losing to Bayern, are already without star duo Desire Doue and African Footballer of the Year Achraf Hakimi for the meeting with Tottenham.

The Parisians are fifth in the 36-team standings with nine points, while Tottenham are one point behind them in tenth. The top eight at the end of the competition phase will progress directly to the last sixteen, while the next sixteen teams in the rankings will enter a play-off round.

It will be the second meeting between the clubs this season – having also faced each other in the UEFA Super Cup in the Italian city of Udine in August, when PSG came from two goals down to draw 2-2 before prevailing on penalties.

Published on November 25, 2025