Christophe Dugarry, 53, former striker and now pundit, has once again criticized Luis Enrique, the 55-year-old Paris Saint-Germain coach, following the Parisian club’s successful performance. In comments reported by RMC Sport, the former French international acknowledged the Spanish manager’s performance while maintaining a strong focus on his attitude and personality.
Dugarry: “He has an enormous ego”
“He is who he is. You can’t criticize a guy for his attitude in press conferences; he’s always like that. (…) He loves it; it’s his favorite game. (…) Yesterday, he arrived at the press conference and strutted around like a rooster because he was right about everything yesterday. He played a perfect match. (…) He has an enormous ego. He has the right to be arrogant. Everyone has their own personality. He loves to be systematically provocative. (…) He succeeded in every move he made.” He’s acting cocky, he’s acting smart, and he’s right. I hope he can act smart all season long.”
This outburst sounds more like the reaction of a former player who doesn’t much care for Luis Enrique and who undoubtedly disapproved of PSG’s on-field response after a string of criticisms. Dugarry implicitly admits that the Parisian coach did everything right in this match, but he still chooses to steer the debate back to the Spanish coach’s behavior, provocation, and supposed arrogance.
In other words, even when the facts support Paris’s position, the pundit continues to emphasize a rather negative point, as if to avoid conceding anything publicly. This is what makes his comments so striking: they sound less like a dispassionate analysis of the match than a reluctance to fully acknowledge that Luis Enrique, this time, had won completely.
