PARIS — France coach Didier Deschamps has defended his decision to play Ousmane Dembélé and Désiré Doué in a recent World Cup qualifier where both Paris Saint-Germain stars were injured.

They are expected to be out for several weeks and likely to miss titleholder PSG's first two matches of the Champions League, at home to Atalanta and away at Barcelona.

“PSG is not our opponent, it never has been, even if we have interests that may diverge. Our only opponent is Iceland,” Deschamps said Monday ahead of Tuesday's World Cup qualifier. "We did things professionally, progressively, as we do with every player, taking into account how they feel. Unfortunately, this happened and it concerns two PSG players.”

Deschamps was speaking a day after PSG wrote a letter to the French Football Federation

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