Messi excluded from facing Benfica in the Champions League

Paris Saint-Germain announced on Monday that its striker, Lionel Messi, will not participate in the French team's match against Benfica in the Champions League on Tuesday, because he has not recovered from a calf injury.

Messi missed the draw with Stade Reims in the French league last Saturday, as Paris Saint-Germain, the leaders of the competition, failed to score in the tournament for the first time this season.

But coach Christophe Galtier said he expected the Argentine striker to return against third-placed Olympique de Marseille next week.

"We understand the importance of Lionel to our team, his performance and his compatibility with his teammates," Galtier told reporters.

We cannot be happy with his absence.

But we have to find another way to pose a threat to Benfica's defence.

We must find other options.

When Messi plays we play a lot in the middle.

We've worked hard to bring more variety to our attack."

Kylian Mbappe criticized his coach, Galtier, in a comment on the Instagram application, which he later deleted after the goalless draw last Saturday, saying that he does not like playing as a lone striker, and Galtier said that he spoke with the frustrated French striker.

"Killian has already contributed 11 goals and is performing well and I know he will score more goals," Galtier added.

He was not supposed to play against Stade Reims, he was sick but Messi missed and Neymar suffers from muscle problems due to participating in many consecutive matches.

“So if Neymar and Messi were available, Kylian wouldn't have played.

He was sick and tired.

The match was not going well for us.

There are discussions we often have with Killian.

I talked to him a lot to try to reassure him.

We are very sensitive to his comments and ideas because he is a very important player.”

Also absent from tomorrow's match will be Presnel Kimpembe, Nuno Mendes and Renato Sanchez.

Paris Saint-Germain leads Group H with seven points from three matches, equal with Benfica, while Juventus are four points behind in third place.

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