Things are not going as planned for Paris St. Germain in the league, but PSG coach Luis Enrique is beaming before the Champions League duel with Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday (September 19th, 2023, 9 p.m./live ticker at sportschau.de). almost philosophical serenity.
If the French Ligue 1 were to end now, Luis Enrique could almost certainly start looking for work again. Because then he would have missed out on a place in the Champions League, after five match days and most recently a painful 2-3 home defeat against OGC Nice, the extremely rich sheikh club slipped to fifth place and was only ahead of Lille and Metz thanks to the better goal difference.
Mbappé scores, Kolo Muani makes his debut
There was also some good news against Nice. Kylian Mbappé has scored two goals, the superstar seems to have got over the months of change, non-change and contract confusion and is back in good shape in time for the start of the premier class.
In addition, the 95 million new signing Randal Kolo Muani from Frankfurt celebrated his debut as a joker from the 64th minute, but it was no longer enough for him to score or a point for the team.
New signing Randal Kolo Muani from Paris Saint-Germain in a duel with former Bundesliga player Dante.
“You have to have hope and ambition”
Nevertheless, Luis Enrique exudes calm. Neither the subscription champion’s false start nor the renewed attempt to finally win the Champions League for this club seems to make him particularly nervous.
In previewing the duel with Dortmund, the Spaniard, who won this competition in 2015 with FC Barcelona and superstar Lionel Messi, warns against becoming too tense: “When a team, a club is obsessed with something, that’s never a good sign. Man Must have hopes, ambition – but an obsession, that never works, in any area of life.”
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The attitude is “ten out of ten”
Now Luis Enrique has been in the business long enough to know that he’s probably at the wrong club when it comes to urging patience. He’s trying anyway: “We have to wait and see how the competition starts. As a club we are convinced and motivated, we hope to win all possible competitions. But it’s a process, it takes time.”
It’s clear to him: “Actually, I don’t have any time. If the results are bad, I’ll be fired. We didn’t start the season well, but every time I get somewhere, it’s been like that.” What gives him courage is the attitude of his protégés, who also voted completely against Nice: “We get ten out of ten points for that.”
The EM storm may be waiting for BVB
On Tuesday against Dortmund, Luis Enrique could now summon the kind of striker that many French people can imagine for the team at next year’s European Championships: Mbappé on the left, Kolo Muani in the center and Ousmane Dembélé on the right.
The German national team was spared from this trio last week and won the international comparison 2-1. Significantly more attacking power awaits Dortmund, as Paris certainly doesn’t want to allow a false start in two competitions.
