The match: “The team? Serious, determined, organized. We were interesting in the way of recovering the ball, as soon as possible, in order to avoid letting Troyes put down his offensive game, they have quality in the offensive field. Even if it took a while to settle… We were also serious in the use of the ball, with compensation, players who projected themselves much more into the opposing area than usual, which given a large number of situations.
The title race: “This is an important victory. I followed yesterday’s match (Lens’ victory over Marseille, editor’s note). There is a second (Lens) who is very efficient, on a good dynamic while we are in a very difficult second part of the season. At home, we remained on a big underperformance against Lorient (1-3 defeat), with also a lot of players absent this evening. We had to win to maintain this gap (in the standings). I told my players that we are entering a period where the matches are decisive, not yet decisive. You have to approach them with a lot of seriousness and determination, a desire to win. And to win matches, everyone has to be in tune with the efforts to be made. The championship already folded? No. There are 12 points left (to be distributed). We will host Ajaccio next week. We remain on big underperformance at home (three defeats in the last four matches at the Park, editor’s note). We will have to reproduce the same kind of match and win. I don’t see Lens making any missteps. So we won’t have to do it to give hope … to anyone.
The face of PSG: “If we refer to the match at Angers (2-1 victory), where we led fairly quickly before stopping to play in the second period, tonight, even if it was difficult to score and that the Troyes goalkeeper, Gauthier Gallon, had a very big game, it’s more like what we have to do in these games, with a big grip on the game and consistency, we had this evening.”
Hugo Ekitike: “He was very useful on a collective level, on his positioning, very fair technically, he put in a lot of effort, he worked for the team. He could have been happier on a few strikes. He gave a very good ball, at the start of the second period, on Marco Verratti. He was very interesting in a team structure that suits him. I’m happy for him. It’s been a tough season for him. He is rewarded for the workouts he does. He had this opportunity. He grabbed it, he grabbed it very well.”
Warren Zaire-Emery on right piston: “We worked well this week, we prepared it well. With Achraf Hakimi suspended, I decided it would be him. He is a very young player, one of the Parisian titis. Whatever we say, there are some who will have played this season … He was very good, very good at the post and very intelligent in the management of his match.
Leo Messi: ‘Back against Ajaccio? This is an internal club issue. I have no comment to make on Leo.”
Comments collected at a press conference.
