“I think it was the best first 35 minutes I’ve seen this season.” Luis Enrique not only appreciated the result, but also the manner, on Wednesday, during the 3-1 victory against Nice, in the quarter-finals of the Coupe de France. “We created a lot of chances and we dominated the match perfectly at that moment. But football is sometimes curious and very unfair, all it takes is one action and you concede a goal in a rather strange way. It creates a period of doubt and the opponent recovers, regains morale, thinks he can equalize. And they could have equalized at that moment. It would have been unfair but there is no justice in football… In the second half, we were concentrated, superior to this opponent. We could have scored even more. This reflects our superiority against a very good opponent. It will help us to improve pressing, possession, efficiency in front of goal… It’s a very complete match, I’m very happy,” relishes the Spaniard, whose team is in contention on all counts ( L1, C1 and Coupe de France).
Luis Enrique also calls on his players to remain “humble” while “not being afraid of anyone”. A preference for the Champions League draw? “I won’t tell you, but on the other hand, I know that no one will want to come across PSG,” he said. Verdict Friday from noon. The potential adversaries? Three Spanish clubs (Real, Atlético, Barça), two English (City, Arsenal) and two German (Bayern, Dortmund).
One thing is certain: even if it is not always understood, the perpetual turnover imposed by Luis Enrique allows the Parisian team to move forward, to ensure that all players are involved and ready to perform when we do. call on them. “Lucho”, he does not pay attention to the moods of the players: “It is normal that the players who play less are not happy. If you ask those who were on the bench and those who didn’t come on the field, they must be very angry, but the objective is that the team wins, that the players, when they sign for the club, are ready to give their best. This is done in matches but also in training, I am very attentive to what happens in training. It’s not an NGO, it’s a very high level football club and the players must give their best. If the coach has confidence in you, great, if not, train even harder, prepare better and take advantage of the minutes I give you. This is the very high level. Whether I like it or not, it doesn’t matter to me.” So far, it’s working.