" We are ready." This is Luis Enrique's watchword on the eve of facing FC Barcelona in the quarter-final second leg of the Champions League. If it couldn't really be otherwise, the Spanish technician reiterated the confidence he had in his team, 5 days after the Parisians' defeat (2-3) in the first leg.
“The first leg was very competitive. The result of the first leg does not reflect what we should have deserved. We should have equalized. Now we have to present a better version of ourselves tomorrow. We are very confident that we will turn things around. (…) PSG has never been able to qualify after losing in the first leg, but tomorrow we will do it,” explained the PSG coach.
To do this, Luis Enrique benefited from a lighter schedule with no Ligue 1 match scheduled for this weekend, leaving his team 6 days of rest between his two matches. “This return match is a little different. We had the necessary time to prepare and improve our performance. (…) We know exactly what we want to do offensively or defensively,” warned the Spanish coach.
'I'm not going to change my opinion' on Xavi
Luis Enrique first had to re-mobilize his group who experienced “one or two difficult days” in his own words. “After 27 games without defeat, the defeat came at the worst time. It was a little difficult for the group, the staff. Now there is another match to play to make up for it,” he said as Achraf Hakimi said just before him.
If things have changed since the first leg, the coach of the capital club expects a similar encounter. “We are going to exert our pressure from the first minute as in the first leg. Barça will do the same thing to cause us problems. The match will be essentially the same. There should be goals from both sides,” commented Luis Enrique, explaining that Bradley Barcola was also “in good conditions” to play.
The PSG technician could not avoid a question about his Barcelona counterpart Xavi after the controversy over his comments before the first leg. “On Xavi, anything I can say will be badly received. What interests you is the controversy. I repeat what I said. I'm not going to change my opinion with the defeat. I don't know him as a coach. To know a coach, you have to know him from the inside. I would have liked him to train me. He is at the top, the results show it,” he replied. Enough to end the debates and concentrate on tomorrow's match.