MADRID, 15 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Paris Saint-Germain coach, Luis Enrique Martínez, described the first half of their duel against Real Sociedad as “a nightmare”, for the first leg of the round of 16 in the Champions League, which smiled at the Parisian team this Wednesday for 2-0.
“We have to lose with our weapons and, if we lose with our weapons, nothing happens, life goes on. The next day people wake up, you get up again, it's part of the sport… like life. So you have to be faithful and in the first half I think we lacked a little daring, and against a team like Real it becomes a nightmare. The first half was a nightmare,” said Luis Enrique in the press conference after the match.
“The other day our fans came to watch the training, to encourage us, and they only told us to be brave and daring, that nothing happens, that if we don't win the Champions League, nothing happens. Well, that's it, we can lose, Real “He was better than us in the first half,” insisted the PSG coach from the Parc des Princes.
“Since we have arrived here, you can see the evolution of the team, where it is going. I like where it is going, I think that within what my idea is and what we aim for, to be a difficult team to pressure, in case they decide By pressing ourselves high and taking risks and bringing out many players, we are capable of getting the ball to the forwards in good conditions,” analyzed the Asturian coach.
“If I have to look at the project of these six months or so that we have had, I think that the team has many things that I like. It is still evident that we have to evolve and we are in that initial stage, first season, but I think that If there is something I can tell my players, it is that they follow the idea that I convey to them or that I try to convey to them,” he continued at the press conference.
He confessed that “that is the most pleasant thing” for him “as a coach” and it is “what fills him the most” with pride, since “it is the only way I have to prepare my profession and try to carry it out successfully.” my job. And if later we have to be eliminated, then let it be our way, not doing hybrids or things that we have not worked on.”
In a previous interview with Movistar Plus+, Luis Enrique snorted. “My goodness. I really wanted to play with a Spanish team and they almost screwed us up. Nothing, congratulate Real Sociedad and congratulate Imanol [Alguacil]. What a great team, what a way to compete,” she praised.
“Coming to Paris against a rival like us, with the individuality we have, and coming and doing that damage to us in the first half… When we put pressure on them, they played long, they won the second ball, they had the ball in the opponent's field, they have generated scoring chances, etc. They deserved a lot,” he argued.
“In the second half we were able to improve a little. We were more confident when it came to getting the ball, we created more problems for them, their pressure was no longer so good, we were able to put pressure on them in the opposite field and in the end both of us They have a lot of quality up front, they are decisive,” he alluded to his forwards, especially Kylian Mbappé.
Due to the 'txuri-urdin' team's version in the first half, Luis Enrique was cautious about the return. “I don't even want to think about San Sebastián in 15 days,” he remarked before scoring the score at 1-0 (min.58) while Hamari Traoré was off the pitch.
“It was a coincidence, but when a player retires we have taken advantage of the strategy. They are precisely a very strong team in strategy, with very good shooters and very good finishers. Football is capricious like that and it has allowed us to score the first goal And also a player like Kylian Mbappé, who is not a specialist in these matters either,” said the Asturian coach.
“La Real now has a totally adverse result, it is going to be very difficult. Regardless of the result, it was already going to be, but this result does not relax us at all. The first part [de la ida] It's going to be very much on our minds and we have to play a game more similar to the second half than the first. If not, it's not that we are going to suffer, it's that they can eliminate us,” he concluded.