Paris Saint-Germain won 3-0 against Brest on Saturday at the Stade Francis Le Blé in the ninth round of Ligue 1 2025-2026. After the match, Paris coach Luis Enrique spoke at a press conference.
Enrique: “I’m very happy with the way we won.”
Before the match, you said that Hakimi was the best full-back in the world, and he proved you right.
“It’s not difficult to say that, it’s obvious. He has an ability to see things, to attack spaces. When you’re up against a team that’s sitting back, you have to know how to attack spaces. So when Vitinha has the ball and Hakimi makes deep runs… He was incredible. He played a very good game, he has that quality in attack. It’s always difficult to win in Brest. I’m very happy with the way we won.”
Is he the most skilled defender you’ve ever seen?
“If you remember, I had Dani Alves! It’s difficult to compare players, I don’t like doing that. Every player is different. But I’m very happy with the quality of Hakimi, Marquinhos, Nuno, Pacho, Viti, and Zabarnyi. I’m very happy because I have incredible players.”
Enrique: “We are calm and relaxed.”
Do you see the Parisian team as very calm?
“We are confident. Ligue 1 requires consistency and regularity. We are specialists in this kind of journey. We are calm and relaxed. We know our potential. We were confident because Ligue 1 and the Champions League are different competitions, and it’s great to be in this position.”
Enrique: “It’s important to have the whole team.”
How will you manage the upcoming string of matches?
“We like these kinds of situations. Playing every three days is great. We’re used to it. It’s time to use the whole squad, all the players. We still have two players out with injuries (João Neves and Fabian Ruiz). We need to get those players back. It’s important to have the whole team available, it’s important because there are a lot of games.”
When will Dembélé be able to start a game?
“We don’t want to rush things. We want to take it slowly. He played 30 minutes in Leverkusen and 30 minutes tonight against Brest. He feels very good. We have to manage this carefully. He’ll be 100% very soon.”
Enrique: “We are a consistent team that can play a lot of games.”
You’re back at the top of the table. Is that significant?
“It’s significant! The championship is a marathon. You can run the first 10 kilometers very fast, but in the end, you have to run 42 kilometers. There are still a lot of games to play. We are a consistent team that can play a lot of games every three days.
We’re calm. We’re looking to perform well throughout the season. It’s normal to have ups and downs. We’ve had a lot of injured players, and we haven’t been able to manage that in the best way, even if that’s no excuse.”
Have you heard from João Neves and Fabian Ruiz?
“They’re at home, relaxing, with a little water and maybe a beer, I don’t know!”
