On Sunday, aspart of Matchday 9 of Ligue 1 2024-2025, Paris Saint-Germain (1st) will take on Olympique de Marseille (3rd) at the Stade Vélodrome (kick-off 8.45pm). On the eve of the match, Paris coach Luis Enrique answered a number of questions at a press conference.
Luis Enrique “Players who feel better, players who feel worse, and in that sense, I’m sticking to my guns”.
How would you assess your forwards since the injury to Gonçalo Ramos?
Hello everyone, throughout the season the coaches have to adapt to all situations, injuries, players leaving for the national team, who sometimes come back with injuries too.
Players who are feeling better, players who are feeling worse, and in that sense, I’m sticking to my guns and I’m happy with my team’s performances since the start of the season and in all competitions.
I think we’ve been better, there was the Arsenal game and we’ve been good against different opponents. I’ll continue to use it depending on what we consider most important. But yes, I’m satisfied.
Luis Enrique “Whatever you’ve done before, we don’t really care”.
Two different dynamics? Has this clash ever been so balanced?
You can think a lot and in different ways about this type of match from experience. Everything you’ve done before is of little importance.
It’s a match with maximum tension and an incredible rivalry, and it doesn’t matter what’s happened before. Once you’ve said that, everyone can have an opinion, and I’m very satisfied, especially after seeing PSV’s press conference, where they said we deserved to win the game.
We created a lot of chances and for various reasons we didn’t succeed, but I’m very optimistic about what I see. I’m sure we’ll continue to improve, of course there will be defeats – it can’t be any other way, but I’m very optimistic.
If I tell you the truth, I feel extremely valued by soccer professionals. Sporting directors, players and clubs value my work.
De Zerbi is a very interesting coach, I followed him when he was at Brighton with a very seductive game, I like the way he likes to dominate matches, with a high level and very high pressing.
No matter who the players are, he convinces them, it’s very interesting and I really enjoy following him. I had a lot of fun watching him play.
Luis Enrique “I’ve got nothing to say except that soccer is made up of passion, it’s a story of feelings, joy, sadness and it all fits into a context”.
Do you understand why fans are so violent towards a player like Rabiot, who played for Paris Saint-Germain and now plays for Marseille?
I could compare it with my own case, but I’m not interested. I’ve got nothing to say except that soccer is made up of passion, it’s a story of feelings, joy and sadness, and it all fits into a context.
Of course, we understand that it’s a logical reaction, but I think you have more information than I do on this subject because you know the player and his background. I don’t, so I’m not going to judge.
Everyone does what they want, but we know that people have an opinion about you, all within the framework of normality and without violence and what we’re looking for. But that’s usual in soccer and other sports.
Luis Enrique “When a coach decides one thing or another, it’s not based on a whim”
Vitinha on the bench, are you aiming for electroshock?
You know what happens when a coach decides one thing or another, it’s not based on a whim. There’s a plan that you decide on, that you change, with the technical team.
It all depends on what you’ve seen in training, and there are a lot of things you don’t necessarily see, just like the fan.
But I do. Based on that, I make decisions. In midfield, it’s going to be a huge one, and I’ll be making decisions for the long term. Of course the players want to play these crucial matches, but in midfield I have 5 very high-level players and I’m including Mayulu in that list.
All of them can be starters and all of them can play, and I’ll go for what I consider to be the best. It’s the same for the defenders and strikers, and that’s how I’ve always worked.
The Classique is a very special match. How do you prepare your group?
Normally, the high-tension matches, the most important matches, are the ones where mentally it’s almost the easiest.
Under no circumstances will you have a lack of motivation, no player is going to stay fixed and not run, everyone is going to be excited, but be careful it can generate a kind of blockage. Thanks to a trainer I had, I know how to deal with these things before a match of this intensity.
You have to keep yourself motivated and at the right mental level, so that you’re not ruled by emotion, but that your head always manages to control it. That’s vital for this kind of match.
Luis Enrique “It’s very positive, but we had a very good season last year and we’re off to a better start this year.”
Does the tightness of Ligue 1 change the impact of the match?
Honestly, no. In fact, we have 5 points more than last year at the same time. We know that last season was already very good, but this time it’s even better.
Both Monaco and Marseille are at a different level to last year. We’ll see what happens over the rest of the season, to see if the three of us can hold our own at this level.
The fact that we have a league with more competition, I think it keeps the players very focused for every game.
It’s very positive, but we had a very good season last year and we’re off to a better start this year. Our opponents’ teams are at a better level. And we’ll see what happens next.
Luis Enrique “He’ll be back on the 25th, but I don’t know which month.”
Ramos back soon? What do you miss about him today?
He’s coming back on the 25th, but I don’t know which month. That way we’re all calm and quiet. All the ills of the world now are Gonçalo Ramos’s, and he’s going to bring the same thing he brought before.
But it’s the same for all the other players in my squad. The solution doesn’t lie in one player, or in one player who could come in all of a sudden and change everything, the solution doesn’t come from one player and doesn’t rest on one player alone.
The solution is to improve as a team and take advantage of the mercato windows to improve the squad, but it’s all about the team as a whole.
Luis Enrique “A lot of people think I’m wrong more than I’m right, but I’m happy with this method”.
How important are Portuguese players to PSG? Neves and Vitinha on the shortlist for the Ballon d’Or.
We’re obviously delighted with all the recognition our players receive. As far as international players are concerned, they represent their country, and I like all Portuguese players, even the bad ones. Here, of course, I don’t have any bad ones. That was a joke.
Never the same 11 twice this year?
I didn’t know, that’s not my problem at all, I don’t base my starting eleven on any particular method.
Depending on what I see and what the players are doing, it’s all about the state of mind and the needs of the match, so I consider what I think is best – am I right or wrong?
A lot of people think I’m wrong more than I’m right, but I’m happy with this method.
Do you show your videos to your players to show them that it’s possible to be as effective as you were at Barcelona with Louis van Gal? Do you have any secrets?
(Laughs) My videos are in black and white. It’s a bit like slow motion, you can see the players moving forward very slowly. I can tell you’re worried about something, but I’m not.
When you create so many chances against all these teams, I can’t be worried. Whether you score more or fewer goals, this season we’ve scored more goals than last season. I don’t see any problem.
It’s obvious that in Champions League matches there’s a difference and you have to be as realistic as possible. But that doesn’t mean you have to watch videos to be more realistic, you have to have more confidence and the most important thing is to create chances.
Of course, all the coaches are working with the players to be more effective – the strikers, the midfielders – and I’m very proud of my days of being able to fight until the end of the match.
I’m very happy with these goal-scoring opportunities, and of course I’d like us to score more, but we’re already scoring a lot. As that’s the objective, I’m not too worried.
Luis Enrique “The message is that we’re going to try to live up to our fans when they’re at the Parc des Princes”
Any message for the fans?
The message is that we’re going to try to live up to our supporters’ expectations when they’re at the Parc des Princes. They’re at an infinite level of quality and we’re also trying to be at that level.
I’ve never seen fans who are behind us from the first minute to the last, and that’s something I’ve never seen before.
They’re always willing to help us, and that’s the message we’re trying to get across to the fans. We’ll have varying degrees of success, but we’ll be fighting right to the end.
How do you measure the rivalry between Paris and Marseille, and Real and Barça?
I’ve been lucky enough to experience Barcelona-Madrid, Roma and Marseille-PSG. It’s a different kind of magic from what the fans have been telling you from day one.
Since the start of this week, you can really feel the pressure to win, a feeling that a soccer professional always wants to experience. I can’t say which is the best and which is the worst, but they’re all important.
They’re all different things, but what’s important as a coach is to make the fans happy. I hope that tomorrow we’ll be able to say that.
