Paris Saint-Germain are hoping their star striker Kylian Mbappe can make a rapid recovery from injury and feature in Tuesday's Champions League showdown with Bayern Munich.
Mbappé was ruled out for three weeks after suffering a thigh injury in the league game at Montpellier on 1 February. But he returned to the training pitch on Sunday and again on Monday.
The France superstar has been named in a squad of 22 for the match against Bayern, a last 16, first leg clash at the Parc des Princes.
PSG coach Christophe Galtier said there was no guarantee that the 24-year-old, who scored seven goals in six matches during the group stage, would even be named as a substitute for the game.
"He trained well and the feedback is positive, but it is not yet sure that he will be on the teamsheet. We will look at things tomorrow morning," Galtier told reporters on Monday.
Munich unperturbed by mind games
Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann had previously suggested PSG were playing mind games when they announced that Mbappé would not be fit for the first leg.
"I am assuming that he is going to start. It is my job as head coach to be prepared for him playing and to try to prevent him from damaging us," Nagelsmann, who is without the injured Sadio Mane, said in Paris on Monday.
Meanwhile Galtier denied that PSG were considering naming Mbappé as a substitute just to frighten their opponents in a repeat of the 2020 Champions League final, won 1-0 by the Germans in Lisbon.
"If he is on the teamsheet it will be to play, but I don't know how long it would be for," said the coach.
Messi and Verratti make the squad
Lionel Messi and Marco Verratti were also named in the squad after sitting out PSG's 3-1 defeat at Monaco on Saturday, their second consecutive loss in the French league and their fourth in 10 games in 2023.
Bayern have lost just one match all season and sit top of the Bundesliga.
PSG's slump has raised the spectre of another frustratingly early exit from the Champions League for the Qatar-owned club.
They have been eliminated from the competition in the final 16 in four of the last six campaigns, including last season against eventual winners Real Madrid.
