This Tuesday at 9pm (broadcast on Canal+Foot), Paris Saint-Germain (15th) take on Arsenal (16th) at Emirates Stadium as part of Matchday 2 of the 2024-2025 Champions League. In a press conference, Gunners coach Mikel Arteta spoke about the match and the Parisians’ opponents. In particular, he spoke about his counterpart Luis Enrique and had some very positive words to say.
Arteta “An incredible personality, enormous charisma, enormous energy.”
“I admire Luis Enrique a lot. An incredible personality, enormous charisma, enormous energy. He’s always been very supportive of young players. And what I like about him is that no matter what he’s done as a player or as a manager, his imprint is omnipresent.
You can easily see that it’s his team, the way the players behave, the way they want to attack, they want to dominate matches, the state of mind and energy they have. He has incredible power.
He did it at his former clubs and then with the Spanish national team. His approach to life and to his profession is also something to look out for. I’ve learned a lot from him”, comments relayed by L’Equipe.
Arteta “They dominate every phase of the game.”
PSG?
They’re very strong. They dominate every phase of the game. They have very clear intentions. When they don’t have the ball, they want to get it straight back and they confront you. That’s Luis. Wherever he is, he plays in the same context”. comments relayed by MadeInFoot.
It would be highly inappropriate to criticize the opposing coach before a match, even if it sometimes happens. Still, we prefer such an atmosphere. Some may see it as a way of creating a little too much confidence in the opposition. But we prefer to stay away from that.
Above all, Arteta is a fan of Luis Enrique, far from the easy (and not always justified) criticism of the French media. The style of play may not appeal to everyone, each to their own sensibility. But it seems undeniable that the Spaniard has clear ideas in his approach to soccer, whether in terms of management or tactics.
PSG has changed since his arrival in 2023, and he embodies a completely different project. And it’s a project that has already produced some very interesting results. Of course, we’ll still have to work to grow.
The match against Arsenal will be an interesting test of Paris’s progress. Even if a defeat wouldn’t mean that nothing is going right, just as a victory wouldn’t mean that PSG are going to win the Champions League.
In any case, we’ve got two great teams coming up against each other, with coaches with a distinctive, attacking style of play.
