Paris Saint-Germain beat Dunkerque 2-4 (video highlights Dunkerque/PSG) this Tuesday at Stade Pierre Mauroy in the semi-finals of the Coupe de France 2024-2025. After the match, Paris coach Luis Enrique spoke at a press conference. The Spaniard spoke of his team’s early difficulties, and of their qualification.
Enrique “We deserved to win the match and be finalists in the French Cup.”
How do you explain your team’s early difficulties, reminiscent of Saint-Etienne?
“There’s nothing to explain, soccer is a totally unreal sport. The scenario of this match had nothing to do with that of Saint-Etienne. The Dunkirk players crossed the halfway line twice in the first half and they scored from careless mistakes on our part. It was unreal and the 2-0 scoreline was unfair, but soccer doesn’t know what’s fair or unfair.
I think that tonight my team showed maturity and an ambition to always turn things around in every game. We played against a good Dunkirk team, but they played with a low block, with up to 10 players in the box. It was very difficult for us.
In the second half, we made a positive change by bringing on Gonçalo Ramos, who enabled us to improve the team’s ball circulation and mobility. We no longer allowed them to make transitions.
We deserve to win and be finalists in the Coupe de France. We’re not unbeatable, we’re not movie heroes. We’re a team that will continue to concede goals. Perfection doesn’t exist. But we’ve always maintained our faith in the team, we’ve kept the structure to control things well.”
Enrique “It’s always painful to stop one step short of the final.”
Do you feel relieved after this qualification, there was a nice celebration with the fans?
“Once again, soccer is fickle. You can give 100% in a match and then lose it. It’s always painful to stop one step short of the final. We have to congratulate ourselves, it’s great to reach the Cup final at the Stade de France. It’s important to show our fans that we’re competitive at all times.”
A word about defensive errors?
In every match, there are always mistakes. The second goal was a careless error. This is a team that scored from set-pieces against Brest, and they’ve got good shooters and good crossers. We’re not unbeatable, we’re not movie heroes, we’re just a team that will keep on scoring goals. The first goal is an opponent’s success. Perfection doesn’t exist.
Enrique “We’ve got a whole bunch of good players and quality.”
What did you say to your players at half-time?
“Sincerely, I was happy with the first half, because we were good in terms of mobility and ball movement. But it’s very difficult when there are ten players in the box to find space. We brought on Gonçalo. That’s when the Hakimi-Dembélé combination came into its own. We have a whole host of good quality players, like Barcola, Mendes, Vitinha, Doué…
But the key to turning situations around is to always have faith in the team and maintain a structure. That’s the hardest thing, because it’s what enables us to avoid counter-attacks.
We talked about this at half-time, about the need to maintain the team’s structure, and we managed to keep things under control. When you shoot thirty times, it’s logical to have a bit of success. We deserved to qualify, although I’d also like to congratulate Dunkerque on their run and their performance.”
Enrique “I don’t wish to dwell on these details.”
The corner that led to the Paris goal shouldn’t have been there, what’s your opinion on that?
“You can have that opinion, but we had 30 shots on target, and you’re talking about an opportunity that can be disputed. I’m not in the habit of getting hung up on details like that. We clearly deserve to qualify. I don’t want to dwell on these details.”
