Paris Saint-Germain’s stirring Champions League playoff comeback against Monaco was overshadowed by yet another physical setback for Ousmane Dembélé, whose season continues to be defined as much by the treatment room as by the pitch.

The forward, who had been a doubt before kickoff with a leg issue, lasted just 26 minutes at Stade Louis II. Television cameras caught him repeatedly rubbing the back of his left calf and tugging down his sock, clear signs of discomfort before he finally signalled that he could not continue. Moments later, he walked off, head bowed, replaced by teenage midfielder Désiré Doué.

Coach Luis Enrique insisted he had not gambled with his star attacker, last season’s 35-goal top scorer and a Ballon d’Or winner whose explosiveness is central to PSG’s attacking identity.

“We know what shape each player is in. No risk, he trained normally,” the coach said afterward. “We’ll have to see if there’s an injury. He took a knock in the first 15 minutes, then he couldn’t run.”

At that point PSG were already 2-0 down and reeling, their defensive frailties exposed and their main attacking outlet gone. Yet Dembélé’s exit opened the door for Doué to deliver the most important performance of his young career.

Within minutes of coming on, Doué dragged PSG back into the tie with a precise low finish into the bottom right corner. His celebration, hands cupped over his ears, seemed a pointed response to recent criticism and to Luis Enrique’s public questioning of his stars after a damaging league defeat to Rennes.

Doué then played a decisive role in the equaliser just before halftime, his shot parried by Philipp Köhn into the path of Achraf Hakimi, who drove in from close range. In the second half, Doué struck again, collecting a pass from Warren Zaïre-Emery on the edge of the area and guiding another low effort into the right corner to complete a remarkable brace and secure a 3-2 advantage for the return leg in Paris.

For Dembélé, however, the night felt grimly familiar. Injuries have stalked him from Barcelona to Paris and with France, including a similar first-half withdrawal against Bayern Munich earlier in the season. As PSG celebrated a comeback fuelled by a rising talent, the lingering question was whether their most mercurial forward can stay fit long enough to shape the campaign he was meant to define.