Luis Enrique (PSG coach, after the 2-1 victory over Nantes): “Before a match like the one on Wednesday (at Dortmund in C1), great motivation, we were good enough to win. Nantes defended well. They closed our possibilities. It was a match that strengthens our position in the league and prepares us for the Champions League. (…) These are big matches, like the 8th, the quarters, the semis… We depend on us and that’s important. In case of victory, no need to worry about the other match (Newcastle-Milan). It’s an important and decisive match for us. (on the use of Mbappé) He played as always in the championship, with complete freedom to move to one side or the other or between the lines. He has defensive instructions but does what he wants in attack. Afterwards, it depends on the match, but its role does not change, it is freedom. (Dembélé suspended on Wednesday and substitute against the FCN) It is a match conditioned by that of Wednesday. He cannot play on Wednesday. I wanted to see Barcola starting, to play Marquinhos but not too much… We met the objectives. Some may have played more than expected, but Dembélé’s side is important to us because he is a unique player. Bradley Barcola? He is young, with a lot of quality to show off and personality. He has playing time in a team like ours. This is the present and the future of the club. He had a great match.”
Jocelyn Gourvennec (Nantes coach): “Not far… It’s always hard to play here, there’s a lot of quality. We have mastered our defensive animation well but we also need to add technical quality to keep the ball. We had difficulty doing it in the first half and we took this goal. We corrected at the break, we quickly got back to the score and we passed a milestone, we had good sequences, we managed to get the ball out under pressure. But we didn’t manage to go the distance. We don’t make many mistakes but the ones we make have consequences… (…) An impact after the death of a supporter before Nice? I felt at the start of the week that it was taking up discussions… We can only deplore it, it’s very sad, but we had a match to prepare for and the players were very serious all week. That translates with this match. What was missing was being more precise in the opponent’s last 30 meters. That makes the difference between the two teams. You have to be more precise, and therefore more threatening. (…) I am proud of what the players produced, of the attitude. We wanted to look for them high in sequence and it could have paid off. There is still a little thing missing… We had the situations to return to 2-2 (…) The objectives, Europe or maintenance? When we are able to play these matches against Nice and Paris, it should push us to say that we are a good team and that we want to become a very good one. I am proud to be the coach of FC Nantes.”
Comments collected at a press conference