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PSG captain Thiago Silva ruled out of Tuesday's match vs. Barcelona

Reuters

Paris Saint-Germain go into the second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal tie against Barcelona on Tuesday knowing that they face the almost insurmountable task of overturning a 3-1 deficit from the opening contest at home last week.

It will take nothing short of a herculean effort to reach the semifinals of Europe's premier competition, as the French side know they need to both find the net three times and keep the most dangerous attacking team on the planet from scoring at the Camp Nou.

The former is always a possibility given their compliment of attacking talent. The latter, however, was always going to be the most difficult of tasks. On Monday, it got significantly harder.

The club confirmed that central defender and captain Thiago Silva will miss the trip to Spain due to the injury he sustained in the first leg of the tie, which forced him to leave that match in the opening half - giving for the unfortunate, and clearly unfit, David Luiz.

"Originally named in the Paris Saint-Germain squad for the Champions League quarterfinal second leg away to FC Barcelona on Tuesday, Brazilian defender Thiago Silva has withdrawn from the squad with injury," the club said in a statement.

"The Paris Saint-Germain captain will remain at the Ooredoo Training Centre to continue his rehabilitation from injury."

While unconfirmed, multiple reports suggest the 30-year-old Brazilian is suffering from a thigh injury.

The news will likely force manager Laurent Blanc, who is also without Serge Aurier and Thiago Motta, to turn to Marquinhos and Luiz in central defense, which would force him to make the less-than-ideal choice of starting Gregory van der Wiel at right-back.

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