Ousmane Dembélé, Vitinha and Jules Koundé gave their feelings on Canal+ after Barça-PSG (1-4) Tuesday evening, in the Champions League, at the Montjuïc Olympic stadium.
Ousmane Dembélé (PSG striker, after qualifying in Barcelona ) : “Everyone believed in it, even if we lost 3-2 in the first leg. We didn’t give up. We knew we would score goals in Barcelona. Great work from the whole team. We worked tactically all week with the coach and his tactics were perfect. And we saw it during the match. Even though we conceded the first goal, we didn’t relax and we continued to believe in it. No matter what, we had to win this game. Even if we were behind, we had to come back to win. We made a great effort. Everyone was exceptional throughout the match. We are qualified. We’re going to meet Borussia Dortmund, another team I played for.
(the hostile reception from the Barcelona public) I experienced it very well, I had already experienced it in 2021 of being whistled here in Barcelona. It’s not something that affects me. I’m not going to change my game for whistles. I stayed focused, I gave everything, I scored, I got a penalty… I’m happy with my performance. (the semi-final) It’s a big thing. The last time PSG was in the semis, they were in the final (Paris lost in the semis in 2021, Editor’s note). Fingers crossed we go to Wembley (June 1st). We will have to recover. We have a match against Lyon on Sunday. And we will think about the semi-finals.”
Vitinha (PSG midfielder) : “It’s incredible this feeling, it’s difficult to explain… I’ve dreamed of this kind of thing for a long time, but even more so during the past week, to score, to help the team and above all to win, to be in the semi-final. You have to give us credit. We deserve a lot of credit, it’s incredible what we’re doing. We are in the semis, we are very happy, we now have to think about the semis. Apart from our supporters, no one believed in us. Despite Barcelona’s goal, we didn’t give up. It’s tough mentally… The coach said we would win the match in our heads, mentally, we did it. At one point, we were two goals behind (in both matches), it’s difficult to play in these conditions, but we stayed calm, we scored, we won 4-1 here… It’s incredible.
Luis Enrique? He is incredible, he brings us a lot, in terms of tactics… The most important thing is the mentality, the way of speaking to us, that he makes us believe that everything depends on us. It’s incredible… He has a lot of merit in this qualification. It must be said, he is an incredible coach. (his performance and his progress) It’s clear that I’m playing better. But the context is different too. The team is playing better too and we are all better. I am very happy to be better this year. I score more, and that necessarily gives more visibility too. I am very happy, happy and proud of our team because we had a big double confrontation, it is not easy, it must be said, and we are in the semi-final.
Read also PSG notes in Barcelona: the Dembélé-Barcola-Mbappé trio hurts, Marquinhos as a warrior, Vitinha precious
Everything is more complicated when you play 10 against 11.
Jules Koundé
Jules Koundé (Barça defender) : “We are disappointed, we started the match well, we led 1-0. And one fact of the game (the expulsion of Araujo) complicates the match for us… Being 10 against 11 for 70 minutes against a team of this level, with players and such a team, it’s complicated… We tried , we had opportunities to come back, it didn’t come back. Everything is more complicated when we play 10 against 11. What if we deserved better? It’s not a question of merit. These are details. We had a very good match in the first leg, we showed that we were capable of competing. We started well this evening… We win and we lose as a team. We are not here to point the finger at anyone. But playing 10 against 11 for 70 minutes was too hard. In addition, we conceded this goal before half-time which hurts. And after that, everything was more complicated. Our opportunities? I don’t have one in particular in mind. We have two or three that don’t go far. It’s a team that presses very well. With the numerical superiority, it was more difficult to get the balls out. We tried to extend through Robert (Lewandowski). We tried but it was hard with 10.”
