Eighty-seven minutes are on the clock. A grimace appears on Ousmane Dembele's face as he heads towards the France bench holding his leg. He'd only been on the pitch 30 minutes before the all-too-familiar feeling re-entered his life once again.
That injury, that was picked up in France's 1-1 draw with Hungary in last year's Euros, would keep Dembele out for a total of 134 days. A knee problem that sidelined the Frenchman for the majority of the first half of the 2021/22 campaign.
Finally, he was back. Dembele was brought on in Barcelona's Champions League clash with Dynamo Kiev on November 2 for his first appearance of the season. The crucial thing for Dembele was to keep himself fit and available for the remainder of the campaign.
