The Albany Gazette - Dembele could return for PSG against Spurs after latest injury lay-off

"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 game in the French capital.

Dembele, 28, recently won the Ballon d'Or for his outstanding performances last season but he has started just five games so far for PSG in this campaign due to various fitness issues.

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

"Every time a player comes back from injury it is hard to know how to handle that and with Ousmane we will need to be even more careful than normal, although we do want him back," Luis Enrique added.

PSG, who won their first three outings 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 Spurs.

The Parisians sit fifth in the 36-team standings with nine points, while Spurs are a point behind them in 10th -- the top eight at the end of the league phase advance directly to the last 16, with the next 16 sides in the ranking going into a play-off round.

It will be the second meeting of the clubs this season -- they also faced off 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 triumphing on penalties.

(N.Miller--TAG)