Paris Saint-Germain beat Stuttgart 1-4 (video highlights Stuttgart/PSG) this Wednesday at the Mercedes-Benz Arena as part of matchday 8 of the Champions League 2024-2025 league phase. After the match, Paris coach Luis Enrique spoke at a press conference. The Spaniard spoke about his team’s qualification and PSG’s potential opponents (Brest, Monaco) in the Round of 16.
Enrique “We controlled the match and deserved to win it.”
What do you take away from this victory, and what do you think of your potential opponents Brest or Monaco in the play-offs?
First of all, we’ve achieved our objective because we’ve qualified. Let me remind you that we had the worst draw of the 36 teams involved. Which may have been frustrating. But we succeeded in a clear way, with performances and we’re on a good dynamic.
The next opponent doesn’t really matter. In this new format, clubs from the same country can play each other from this stage onwards.
As I said, we controlled the match and deserved to win it.
How would you sum up the Champions League group stage?
I think our team was consistent throughout the competition. As I’ve already said several times, the ranking was unfair, and we deserved at least 5 points more for the way we played.
We were competitive, sometimes better, sometimes worse. You criticized us because we didn’t score enough goals, but we had a lot of chances without scoring many, so the ranking was unfair. But the figures have balanced out.
We were ambitious, we had personality, we defended well. In 3 games, we scored 11 goals. It’s not normal to score that many either.
I dedicate this victory to the fans and those who have always supported us. We have to keep playing at this level.
Enrique “I like our ambition, the ambition of the players.”
Has your team reached maturity?
No, I’m sorry. We can’t say right now that everything’s fine. We’ve been following the same line since the start of the season. There are still going to be some tough games, and we won’t be playing as well. Our team is young, but that doesn’t matter on the pitch.
We’re resourceful and we can bounce back from tricky situations. I like our ambition and that of our players. We want to go as far as possible in all competitions.
Enrique “We got what we wanted.”
Is this victory against Stuttgart a confirmation after the one against Manchester City?
No. We played well throughout the competition. We had our difficulties, of course. But we got what we wanted. Sometimes we won’t be as effective as we were tonight (Wednesday), but I’m not worried about that.
Luis Enrique: “He’s a different player, one we’ve always trusted”.
What’s the latest on Warren Zaïre-Emery’s ankle injury?
“I don’t know yet. We’ll wait for the tests tomorrow but it doesn’t look good.”
Ousmane Dembélé is in great form at the moment and bluffing in front of goal?
He’s having a wonderful time. He played a superb match. He’s a different player, one we’ve always trusted, and he’s exceptional at the moment. That’s great news. He’s showing all his qualities. He scored some extraordinary goals for a great team. Bradley Barcola also had an exceptional game.
