Paris Saint-Germain beat Strasbourg 4-2 (video highlights PSG/Strasbourg) this Saturday at the Parc des Princes as part of Matchday 8 of Ligue 1 2024-2025. After the match, Paris coach Luis Enrique (54) spoke at a press conference. The Spaniard spoke of the performance of the Parisian Titis, as well as the game plan being put in place.
Enrique: “The first match after a break is always difficult”.
There were homophobic chants tonight, PSG have already been sanctioned for this, what’s your reaction to this?
“I don’t know anything about it.
What do you take away from this victory?
“In terms of analysis, like any coach who has a lot of international players, I can see that the first match after a break is always difficult.
But I’m happy because we achieved 2 objectives: to win against an opponent who had only lost one game this season, who was very strong in pressing and recovering the ball. And the second was to keep the players affected by the international break at rest so that they could recover.”
Enrique “I think he’s the future of the club.”
Senny Mayulu put in a fine performance, including his first Ligue 1 goal. What did you say to him before the match?
“I didn’t tell him anything in particular, just the instructions for the game. Mayulu is a player who had the chance to leave last season and chose to stay with PSG.
I was very happy and I think he’s an excellent player with a lot of qualities, very strong physically, who can score – tonight he could have scored three. He’s a very good player with both feet and I think he’s the future of the club.”
What did you think of Désiré Doué’s performance?
“Doué can play in different positions. He’s very versatile and I’m very happy with his performance today. He’s very good physically, very good technically with a very good mentality. He was very tired at the end of the 90 minutes tonight, but he’s on the right track. He’s an excellent player.”
What does it mean on a day-to-day basis to integrate and develop such young players?
“We played against Strasbourg, the youngest team in Ligue 1, and we love that philosophy too. We have young players, and we want them to progress, so we need them to play.
With a lot of intensity. The most important thing is that the players feel that we have confidence in them. I think that’s what we showed tonight and what we’ll be doing all season.”
Enrique: “We prepare for every game in the same way”.
When you look at PSG’s performance against Arsenal and tonight’s, can you say that this team is strong with the weak and weak with the strong?
“We’re not changing our mentality, nor our objectives. What we are convinced of is that we are better with 23 rather than 13 players.
That means rotating players and giving them all playing time. The Champions League has nothing to do with that. We prepare every match in the same way. To get the best possible result.”
Can you give us an update on the physical state of your squad?
“We’re at the start of the season, so there are a lot of games because most of our players are internationals. We’ve succeeded in our objective of resting the players who have been traveling and who already had a lot of minutes played, and that was the most important thing.”
Enrique “I don’t care who scores or who makes the decisive passes”.
Paris conceded another goal from a set-piece, is it difficult to find solutions?
“That’s soccer, that’s life, my love, that’s life.”
Is it a source of satisfaction to have seen your team score thanks to four different strikers?
“My aim is to develop the team in the best possible way. Before, the team depended on individuals, and that’s no longer the case.
Today, it depends on the team’s ability to develop our soccer, whether in defence or attack. I don’t care who scores or who makes the decisive passes. I want a team that defends and attacks together.”
