Paris Saint-Germain travelled to face Athletic Bilbao this Wednesday and were held to a 0–0 draw on Matchday 6 of the Champions League group stage. After the match, PSG manager Luis Enrique spoke to PSG TV to share his thoughts.
Enrique: “We will need to win a lot of points to be in the top eight.”
“It was very special, a different kind of match with this atmosphere against a pot 4 team. It means that this match should have been easy, but you can see that in our group there is no easy opponent. I think we started the game well, there was no drop in intensity, but in the second half we were much better. They were a little more tired and we could have won the match.
It’s a shame because the standings are very tight, and we will need to win a lot of points to be in the top eight. That’s our objective, but we will have to win at least the next match or the last one. It will be difficult. It’s unfortunate because they played well, they pressed us, but I believe we deserved the victory.”
A disappointing draw for PSG, despite dominating the match through possession and the chances created. The Parisians could have taken a major step toward qualification and approached the top 8—if not the top 3—with more calm. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, and they will now need to approach the last two European matches with great seriousness.
This end to the first half of the season feels long for a PSG side that has already accumulated a great deal of fatigue. The squad is still not at full strength, and it is becoming difficult to draw from what remains of their physical resources. Hopefully the winter break will allow the players to rest, and above all, allow Luis Enrique to recover a squad operating at 100% of its capacity.
