Angel Di Maria not called up for Juve’s UCL opener vs. PSG due to injury

Juventus’ contingent of former Paris Saint-Germain players will be one fewer when the Bianconeri take the field at the Parc des Princes Tuesday night.

Former Paris Saint-Germain winger Angel Di Maria was not included in the traveling squad for Juventus’ Champions League group stage opener in Paris. It’s already the second time this season that the 34-year-old Argentine has missed time due to injury this season after first suffering a muscle injury during Juventus’ season opener against Sassuolo last month. This time, Di Maria tried to give it a go as he was part of training before the rest of the squad flew to Paris Monday afternoon, but clearly didn’t feel healthy enough to give it a go.

Di Maria was subbed off in the second half of Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Fiorentina. Juve manager Max Allegri said it was a move that was first made out of precaution, but clearly there’s more to it than just playing it safe and preventing Di Maria from getting injured further.

Di Maria joins Paul Pogba, Federico Chiesa, Wojciech Szczesny as Juventus’ most notable injuries ahead of their Champions League opener. One potential question mark was answered over the weekend when Leonardo Bonucci was a second-half substitute over the weekend against Fiorentina. Now that he’s back in the squad, Bonucci is expected to get the start alongside Bremer in the center of Juve’s defense Tuesday night.

Alex Sandro was also a potential injury concern, but has at least been called up for the trip to Paris. Even if Sandro is unavailable to start, Allegri is working with a skeleton crew at fullback, with Danilo and Mattia De Sciglio being predicted to start against the Paris Saint-Germain front three Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.