Paris Saint-Germain won 2-1 against Saint-Etienne on Sunday at the Parc des Princes on Matchday 17 of Ligue 1 2024-2025. After the match, Paris coach Luis Enrique spoke at a press conference. The Spaniard spoke of his players’ performance and the team’s overall progress.
Luis Enrique: “I detach the whole team”.
Ousmane Dembélé’s performance?
I’d like to congratulate our opponents, because I really liked the way they came into the match, pressing hard and bravely, without being afraid. We were a bit lost for 15 minutes and Saint-Étienne made things difficult for us. We created a lot of chances.
We were inspired, but we could have scored more goals. You focus on the goalscorers, but I’m looking at the team as a whole. Right now, it’s Ousmane, before it was Bradley. You have to get everyone involved in the goal celebration.
Could Randal Kolo Muani leave for Juventus this summer?
I don’t know. For me, the mercato is more like the market for vegetables, fruit and bread.
Enrique: “There are no friendly matches for him, he’s always a competitive player”.
Lucas Hernandez was back in the starting line-up, what did you think of his performance?
“Lucas Hernandez is the guarantee of a competitive player. He comes to training every day with a smile on his face, because he’s coming off a bad period. He recovered rather quickly from a serious injury and he makes the most of every minute when he has the opportunity to play.
We were thinking of giving him 60 minutes of play so that he could increase his workload. But there are no friendly matches for him – he’s always a competitive player. So I congratulate him. And I think both Lucas Beraldo and Lucas Hernandez have been superb in central defense.”
Enrique: “We’re trying to keep going and generate confidence”.
How do you rate Gonçalo Ramos’ performance?
“It’s a game we should have won with a better goal difference when you see the number of chances we created. But we weren’t precise, clinical, when the chance came. That’s been a feature since the start of the season. But we’re trying to carry on and generate confidence. What we can control we do, and for the rest we adapt.”
Enrique “I’ve taken on the responsibility of making this group progress.”
Don’t you get the impression that PSG drop their intensity of play as soon as they have the scoring advantage?
“No no, if we’d played at 40% Saint-Étienne would have won. But we have to be careful. I didn’t like the way we started the first half. Maybe we were surprised by Saint-Étienne’s ambitions.
But if any player played at 40% I wouldn’t accept it. I don’t think any player who wears the PSG jersey thinks that playing at 40% is enough. I don’t accept that in training. I know the profile of the players we have and I’ve taken on the responsibility of making this group progress. So I don’t accept 40% from anyone.”
Enrique: “Competitiveness within the team is important”.
PSG have been playing at a different level for a month now, what has prompted the team to evolve?
“I don’t agree, sorry. It’s the same PSG as last season, with an evolution since that’s our objective. I think we’ve made real progress this season, and I told you we’d be better in both attack and defense. Of course, we need to win trophies to confirm this.
Competitiveness within the team is important for further development and this is what I see at every training session reinforces my idea and I hope we’ll continue like this throughout the season.”
