Paris Saint-Germain beat FC Espaly 2-4 (Espaly/PSG video highlights) on Wednesday at the Stade Marcel Michelin in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France 2024-2025. After the match, Paris coach Luis Enrique (54) spoke at a press conference. The Spaniard spoke of his side’s qualification and the difficult conditions in which it was achieved.
Enrique “It’s hard to play away on a pitch that can be detrimental to us.”
Were you worried that qualification would slip through your fingers?
“Given the way the game started, we expected to have a lot more problems and difficulties. First of all, I’d like to congratulate Espaly and their coach, Lionel. They were in the game the whole time, they played with elegance without using any of the different weapons you can use in soccer.
I think they played at an excellent level, particularly in defense. They scored on their first chance and that made things difficult for us. It’s hard to play away from home on a pitch that can do us a lot of harm. The stadium also carried the team. But really, Espaly defended very well.”
Enrique “for everyone’s sake, conditions deserved to be better and they weren’t ideal.”
Did your players have their minds elsewhere ?
“Not at all. You only have to look at the fact that several L1 clubs have been eliminated this week. It’s a very complicated competition. That makes it even more difficult with the absence of VAR, because a potential refereeing error is impossible to change. It’s a very special competition and Espaly were in their own game at all times. It could have been a draw and settled on penalties.
I’d like to point out that it’s a very good stadium for rugby, but it’s almost impossible to play good soccer because the ball bounces there all the time. I don’t want to use it as an excuse and we have to play where it’s chosen.
It’s a great competition with the smaller teams taking on the bigger ones. But for everyone’s sake, the conditions deserve to be better, and they weren’t ideal. The pitch wasn’t in soccer condition.”
Enrique “He’s the person who represents the players, the team”
Why did you give the armband to Fabian Ruiz ?
“It was the players’ decision. We deferred to the voice of the players, it could have been Warren or Fabian based on the ranking. We always give the players the opportunity to choose their captain. We never forget that it’s the person who represents the players, the team. Under no circumstances should the choice be made by the coach, the president or the sporting director. It’s the players who have to choose.
Enrique “We had to deploy all our resources tonight.”
Why did you decide to make these three changes at half-time? Was it the planned turnover ?
“No, there was a real risk at the break when it was 1-1. With Espaly’s density, we realized that we had to go through the wings and better manage the time without the ball.
Two changes were initially planned, but the third was forced through because Fabian had a problem. People need to understand that everything is always under surveillance, and we need to be vigilant: the Lyon and Rennes games showed that. We had to pull out all the stops tonight.”
Enrique “the conditions weren’t right for it to be his comeback game.”
Why didn’t you start Kimpembe ?
“The pitch didn’t seem adequate, not only to play on, but it also represented a risk for the players. The conditions weren’t ideal for him to come back from injury. He’s in a process of improvement. Things have been going better for him over the past month. But the conditions weren’t right for this to be his comeback game.”
Did you decide to start Safonov in the warm-up with just a few minutes to go ?
“I threw Safonov into the warm-up so as to keep all the possibilities open. I wasn’t sure I’d make that change if there had been shots on goal, because Tenas is good at that too. But again, I wanted to leave everything open and it was lucky not to go to penalties.”
