PSG have missed 9 of their last 19 penalties. Barcelona come on Tuesday

By the Data Desk · Published 18 OCT 06:30

Ousmane Dembélé sent his 72nd-minute penalty wide of the left post at Strasbourg on Saturday, the third spot-kick Paris Saint-Germain have missed in eight days. Foot Mercato counts nine misses in PSG's last 19 penalties, our own count from ESPN's match logs agrees, and Luis Enrique admitted afterwards: "C'est vrai qu'on n'a pas de spécialiste" (it's true we don't have a specialist).

• Three misses in a week: Désiré Doué was saved by Nicolas Kocik in added time against Le Mans (10 October), Ferran Torres by Gianluigi Donnarumma at Manchester City (14 October), and Dembélé put his wide at Strasbourg (17 October).
• Nine different players have taken PSG's last 19 penalties, going back to Dembélé's miss against Angers in August 2025. Dembélé has taken eight and scored five; nobody else has taken more than two.
• PSG won all three games, but Nuno Mendes left Strasbourg with a thigh problem and Maghnes Akliouche finished limping, three days before Barcelona visit the Parc des Princes.

The week started at the Parc des Princes. PSG were 3-1 up on Le Mans in added time when Doué stepped up and Kocik saved in the bottom left corner; Beraldo had already scored from the spot in the 19th minute. At the Etihad four days later, with PSG 4-2 up, Ferran Torres, who joined from Barcelona in August, came off the bench and Donnarumma saved his 90th-minute kick. At Strasbourg, Dembélé came on in the 63rd minute, missed nine minutes later with PSG 1-0 down, then set up Illia Zabarnyi's equaliser and scored the second himself in a 3-1 win.

Foot Mercato published the figure on Saturday evening: nine misses in the last 19. We went through ESPN's logs for every competitive PSG game since August 2025, shootouts excluded, and reached the same count. The misses are spread around the squad: Dembélé three times, Doué twice, then Bradley Barcola, Vitinha, Gonçalo Ramos and Ferran Torres once each. Only Dembélé has taken more than two of the 19.

Luis Enrique did not pretend otherwise. "Il faut les travailler, il n'y a pas de spécialiste" (they have to be worked on, there is no specialist), he said of penalties, as quoted by Foot Mercato, before adding that "à chaque fois qu'on est arrivé aux tirs au but, les joueurs ont eu de la personnalité, de la qualité" (every time we have gone to a shootout, the players have shown personality and quality). Then came the line that will follow PSG into Tuesday: "Mais c'est vrai qu'on n'a pas de spécialiste."

Fitness may matter even more. Nuno Mendes came on in the 53rd minute at Strasbourg and left late on with what Luis Enrique called "une petite chose" in his thigh, so PSG, out of substitutions, finished with ten men; "On évaluera la situation demain" (we will assess the situation tomorrow), the coach said, and RMC reported that the first signs were reassuring. Akliouche, who scored at the Etihad and against Le Mans, finished limping after a tackle on his left ankle, L'Équipe reported, and we found no club update on either player by Sunday morning. What happens next: PSG v Barcelona at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday at 21:00 CEST, with Barça on nine wins from nine in LaLiga.