What was already an ominous task for Paris Saint-Germain and coach Laurent Blanc has been made even more difficult with the news that the French champions' star man Zlatan Ibrahimovic will now miss Tuesday's UEFA Champions League Group F meeting with Barcelona at the Parc des Princes. The super Swede has failed to recover from a left heel problem in time to feature in the potentially pivotal clash, heaping further pressure on his teammates and under-fire boss.
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The attention has immediately turned to Edinson Cavani, who will lead the PSG attack in Ibrahimovic's absence, but the talismanic Parisien No. 10 is going to need more than just one player to fill his shoes. What the French capital outfit need, more than ever, is a performance that lives up to their motto of "revons plus grand" ("dream bigger").
Cavani will be required to provide the clinical edge in front of goal that Ibrahimovic normally gives the side, something we have seen more of at home than on the road from the Uruguayan. El Matador was enjoying a good run of form recently -- scoring three times in four appearances at one point -- but is goalless in the past two Ligue 1 matches as PSG still struggle to find their best form.
A massive Champions League night like Tuesday could be exactly what Cavani needs and -- more importantly -- exactly what his teammates need to finally rediscover themselves after their early-season malaise.
Players like Javier Pastore and Lucas Moura tend to raise their level of performance by a couple of notches for the big European encounters. Blanc needs to find the best way to get them to do that, while making sure that they provide the service Cavani needs to finally feel as if he is the focal point of this side without strike partner Ibrahimovic.
That could be the key to PSG actually being able to hurt Barcelona.
Pastore demonstrated in his cameo appearance in last season's 3-1 quarterfinal first leg victory over Chelsea -- in which he scored a sensational late solo effort -- and the 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou at the same stage the season before, that he is capable of sheer genius when the stage is set.
Well, that stage is once again set, but it now needs a headline act.
Moura is the same as the enigmatic Argentine. He shone brilliantly in Europe against Valencia and Barcelona in his debut season with PSG and his sublime solo goal against Stade Malherbe Caen in last week's 2-0 win in Lower Normandy was a reminder that he is still capable of that sort of brilliance.
If Les Parisiens are to stand any chance of scoring a vital win on Tuesday, both Moura and Pastore need to step up and make those sorts of telling contributions.
Blanc comes into this match under immense pressure because of his team's disappointing domestic form. But even with the word "crisis" being bandied around by the French press, many are forgetting that PSG are still unbeaten this season.
All of the recent criticism directed at Blanc and his players has the potential to galvanise the French champions ahead of the Barcelona clash. They know that they need to raise their game, and a typically flat pre-Champions League performance in Toulouse over the weekend suggested that many players were saving themselves for this continental tie. Blanc also managed to rest a handful of key figures, and all of them are expected to return at the Parc des Princes.
With no Ibrahimovic, PSG -- on paper at least -- should be more fluid in their style of play. It has not proved to be the case so far, but in a match like the Barcelona one, with plenty at stake and the home crowd creating a boiling atmosphere, Les Parisiens could actually hit back at their critics with a display that takes many people by surprise.
PSG really need to start adapting better to Ibrahimovic's absence, and this is not even the first time in 2014 that they have had to face a massive Champions League encounter without their talisman.
Mistakes were made in last season's away leg against Chelsea on and off the pitch, but the players have the chance to prove that they have absorbed what happened in that 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge back in April and embrace the potential freedom that the Swede's absence gives them. The French capital outfit did this brilliantly against Caen in Ligue 1 last week, but that needs to be massively amplified if it is to even come close to being good enough to overpower an in-form Barca side.
If PSG cannot embrace that freedom, then what promised to be another season of success will take another, more serious, step toward becoming one of jeopardy.