Luis Enrique, coach of Paris Saint-Germain, stopped by the mixed zone after the 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich (video summary Bayern/PSG) on Tuesday at the Allianz Arena as part of matchday 5 of the Champions League 2024-2025 league phase. He spoke of the responsibility for this setback and the Parisian project.
Luis Enrique “The matches give me a lot of information about the players who will arrive in the future.”
“Playing with 10 men against Bayern is difficult. There’s no doubt that our opponents deserve to win. All decisions are my responsibility, and I accept them.
Our team is in a very interesting project, based on the future. We’ve shown in many games that we’re up to scratch. Even when we’re losing, we still want to attack. The matches give me a lot of information about the players who are coming up in the future.”
Of course, there’s disappointment in defeat. Not least because PSG are starting to look in real danger of qualifying for the play-offs (almost like the Round of 16, except that the top 8 go straight through to the Round of 8).
But that’s no reason to dismiss the positives. Paris made life difficult for an in-form Bayern side, with few big chances conceded. Particularly with 11 against 11, and even with 10 men, PSG weren’t completely outmatched.
We’ll have to improve, that’s for sure. That doesn’t take away from the fact that Paris has laid an interesting foundation for its project to build a very fine team. It’s not just about winning this season. Even if PSG intend to fight hard to go far, because they already have the quality.
It can be hard to hear what they’re saying, because you always want to see Paris win, and there have been some great performances in the past. But you have to be patient and bear in mind that PSG have been much weaker collectively than what we’re seeing this season.