Enrique rubbishes notions and says Sunday’s final will be a die-hard battle
Luis Enrique, PSG’s coach, rubbished all notions of an easy final against Chelsea in the Club Football World Cup. “Anyone who thinks this match will be a formality doesn’t know anything about football. I’ve analyzed this Chelsea team; they won the Conference League. I really like Enzo Maresca; he likes to come from behind, press, attack; they’re a very complete team. It’s not going to be easy. We’re going to approach this match giving 100%. It’s important to be aware of how difficult the match will be. I like the way they play. There are a lot of individuals, but when they have to defend, they know how to apply pressure. I think it will be a close match. Physically, they are very strong too. We are similar teams in the main aspects of the game. We are ready, they are ready. They won the Conference League, we won the Champions League,” Enrique said a day before the final. This is a PSG team without the big names like Messi and co, and the coach was asked whether it’s a coincidence that they won the Champions League without big stars. “A team of 11 stars, that’s football. That’s what we’re lucky to have now. Or rather 12, 13, 14, 15… It’s a commitment we made with the president [Nasser al-Khelaïfi], the sporting management, and me. The real star is the team, a team in which the supporters identify. Since my first day in Paris, that’s something we’ve achieved. We’re going to lose at one point or another, but the path is clear for us,” Enrique said. Subsequently, he was asked the thought that’s circulating in many a fan’s mind: would he agree that he, Enrique, is the real star of PSG? “Star, absolutely not. I didn’t want to be a star as a player, and I’m not a star as a coach. I do my job. I almost feel more comfortable when things aren’t going well. It’s great when things are going well; we make people happy. I know that a coach is good or bad depending on the results; that’s the rule of the game. I accept that I’ve been heavily criticized, but criticism motivates me more than praise. Is this my best season as a coach? Maybe, but for that, we’ll have to win tomorrow. The most important thing is to finish this match giving 100%.”
Mbappe to play against PSG on Wednesday for the first time after his ‘controversial’ departure
Kylian Mbappe will come up against Paris Saint-Germain for the first time since leaving the French club a year ago as Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid revolution gets its biggest test yet in Wednesday’s Club World Cup semifinal. Mbappé should be remembered as a PSG legend, having spent seven prolific campaigns there and eventually departing as the club’s all-time top scorer with 256 goals in 308 matches. However, his legacy was tarnished by the manner of his departure, as the sense among many was that for the last half of his time in Paris, he was merely waiting for the right moment to move to Madrid, the club he had dreamed of representing as a young boy. PSG, under its Qatari president Nasser al-Khelaifi, was not happy with the way in which Mbappe chose to run down his contract to sign for Real in 2024, denying it a transfer fee. A bitter legal dispute has gone on between the parties for much of the time since, with Mbappe claiming he is owed 55 million euros ($64.4 million) in unpaid wages and bonuses from his spell in Paris. The latest twist came just this week when one of Mbappe’s lawyers told AFP that the France captain had withdrawn the complaint of moral harassment against his former club. He believes he was sidelined by PSG and made to train with players the club was looking to offload after refusing to agree to a new contract. Mbappe missed a pre-season tour to Japan and the start of the next campaign before eventually being reintegrated into Luis Enrique’s squad. All of that should have been behind Mbappe long ago, given the way his first season at Real has gone on a personal level.
‘The better team lost, PSG told us’: Arsenal manager Arteta after UCL semis loss; Enrique disagrees
Trophy-hungry Arsenal will end one more season without any silverware after losing 2-1 and 3-1 on aggregate to Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League at Parc des Princes on Thursday, failing in their bid to become only the third team in the tournament’s history to reach the Champions League final after losing the first leg of its semifinal at home. Although Arsenal’s play was good throughout the semifinal in both legs, they lost both matches to a rock-solid PSG. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta believed Arsenal were the better side. “I think so (the better team lost). Especially for 160 minutes. They (PSG) told us,” he said, referring to PSG admitting it, too. “It was a case of most of the performance was there, but just the finishing of the chances wasn’t.” Arsenal enjoyed most of the possession in the second leg in Paris. The Gunners had 61 attacks compared to PSG’s 26, including 19 attempts at goal. However, PSG manager Luis Enrique said Arteta is his great friend, but he disagreed with his point of view and believed PSG deserved to proceed to the finals. Arteta also pointed out that PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma had been the best player in both legs with his decisive saves. “He has won the game for them,” Arteta said. “We know that, to win a competition, someone in one of the two boxes has to do something special, to win it for you and make it happen.” Arsenal have not won major silverware since lifting the FA Cup nearly five years ago in manager Mikel Arteta’s first season in charge. They lost the Champions League final to Barcelona in 2006 and the semi-finals to Manchester United in 2009 and have not been back to the last four since.
