Real Madrid and PSG meet in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 on Tuesday night, with Carlo Ancelotti sweating on the fitness of Karim Benzema.
The Frenchman has missed the last two weeks with a hamstring injury — after already missing time in early December due to a similar injury — but he is the key cog of the wheel for Ancelotti’s game plan and the club’s Champions League chances.
With the pressure of the match already palpable and the return of Neymar all but confirmed by the club, the question becomes: should Benzema return for the match? Our resident physio Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT delves into that question in the video above.
However, given his record against the Parisians, having scored in just one match across 11 outings vs them, Ancelotti may be tempted not to take the risk. Of course, the Frenchman is more than just goals alone, but he went 10 consecutive games of firing blanks against PSG before finally scoring in the 2019/20 Champions League. Whether that comes into Ancelotti’s consideration though, is potentially another matter altogether.
Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT, (@3cbperformance) is a physiotherapist, movement expert, fitness trainer, sports scientist and mindfulness coach. He runs the LA and online based physiotherapy and athletic performance clinic 3CB Performance, and you can subscribe to his Youtube channel (which posts analyses of Lionel Messi and more).