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, Parisian midfielder and striker Désiré Doué spoke in the mixed zone. He spoke of his joy, the strength of his team, the draw (this Friday at 12pm) for the play-offs against Brest or Monaco, and the hat-trick scored by 27-year-old striker Ousmane Dembélé.
Doué “We’re trying to find our automatisms on the pitch”.
“We were serious from the start of the game, and we stayed that way right to the end. The score is very good for us.
Brest or Monaco ?
We’re determined to go as far as we can. And we’re going to show that in our next few games.
Psychological trigger ?
I don’t know about that. We’re just trying to apply what the coach tells us. We know each other better and better, and we’re trying to find our automatisms on the pitch. I think that showed tonight. We need to keep working.
Doué: “There are some good things happening on the pitch and we’re listening to the coach’s instructions.
A new-found efficiency ?
Yes, we’re efficient, we’re finding our automatisms, we’re doing good things out on the pitch and we’re listening to the coach’s instructions. (…)
We’re just trying to play the way we know how, to play our soccer. Tonight, it worked, against a fine Stuttgart team. We were serious and we played with a lot of intensity. That enabled us to win.
Doué “he was just exceptional.”
Ousmane Dembélé’s hat-trick ?
It’s great for him, we’re very happy for him, he’s a player who helps us a lot and tonight he was just exceptional, bravo Ousmane”, comments relayed by Le Figaro.
Criticism was quick to fall on PSG when the efficiency wasn’t there. Coach Luis Enrique was hampering his players, creating tension, and could lose his squad… Today, we can see above all that the team has made a lot of progress collectively.
And the game is not very different from that of the autumn, even if there have been a few improvements. Among them, the automatisms highlighted by Doué. They’re all the more necessary in this game of movement in all directions. Players need to position themselves well in relation to others, and then find each other quickly.
Paris are gaining momentum, finding a bit of efficiency and now moving forward with confidence, with an almost empty infirmary. Luis Enrique and his staff are to be congratulated on their work. Here’s hoping the Parisians can keep up the good work. There’s every reason to believe they can, given their solid foundations. And Dembélé is now becoming a dangerous striker, which is a real step forward and changes a lot of things.