The Spanish coach spoke before the quarter-final second leg of the Champions League between FC Barcelona and “his” PSG on Tuesday at the Monjuic stadium.
The speech since the first leg : “This second match will be a little different. For us, there was no match between the two. We had time to work, analyze, improve our performance. The first leg was very hard fought and the result did not reflect the match, we could have equalized, we had the chances, but the result is there, we have to present the best version of ourselves. We are a team that does not speculate, we do not know that word, we are convinced that we will turn the situation around.”
End of series : “We hadn’t lost in 27 matches and it happened at the worst time… But we have to get up, prepare and improve our performance. We must not exaggerate: when you have 27 matches without defeat, you have to know how to accept defeat. We congratulated Barça, and we are preparing to have a good performance tomorrow. I have no doubt: we will play well. We want to give our supporters a lot of pleasure.”
Bradley Barcola : “He is in condition to play. There are 23 players in the group. I don’t know who can play more or less minutes…”
PSG at rest since the first leg: “We had played before the first leg, and not them. It depends… I adapt to everything. For me, it was perfect before the first leg and again this one.”
The players, the staff, the supporters, it’s hard for everyone the day after a defeat in C1. But a top athlete must get up
Luis Enrique
If his players are ready: “It couldn’t be otherwise… After this defeat, and we hadn’t had one for a long time, the next two days were difficult, we had difficulty getting back physically, mentally, but there has another match six days later, against the same team. We know what we want to do and I believe we are in an excellent moment. (…) The players, the staff, the supporters, it’s hard for everyone the day after a defeat in C1. But a top athlete must get back up. It’s hard but you have to accept it. We prepared for the match in the best possible way, we had plenty of time to work on our strategy. We are ready.”
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Monjuic and not Camp Nou: “Obviously, I would have preferred to play at the Camp, all the supporters too… I had the chance to play in the 1992 Olympics which took place here. The Camp Nou is legendary. And I always want to play against the best players and on the best stage. But this one is at the level for this meeting.
Kylian Mbappé: “All the players on my team are ready. We want to win, the whole team, all the supporters. We had a lot of support during the first leg. PSG have never reversed a double confrontation having lost at home in the first leg. We’ll do it tomorrow.”
I hope that the urgency will make it an exciting match for the spectators and less for the coaches
Luis Enrique
The style of play: “We have to win away. We will exert our pressure from the first minute, we will generate chances when we have the ball, them too. Ter Stegen sent many long balls towards Lewandowski. I think there will be goals from both sides and a pretty similar game. I hope that the urgency will make it an exciting match for the spectators and less for the coaches.
Defeat, evil for good… or not : “Maybe… What I know is that I have a very united group, without ego. I’m happy with what the players are doing on the pitch. I have no complaints about the team. Many deserve more playing time.
A surprise in the 11th, like Asensio in the first leg : “These are surprises for you, not for me. I see them training, not you.”
Public reception : “I don’t know but I don’t think about it. I’m culé, but I will be professional and for PSG.
What interests us is unfortunately the controversy…
Luis Enrique
Xavi : “Everything I can say will be badly received… But I would have liked to be his player. What interests us is unfortunately the controversy… I stand by my statement from last week. I would have liked to have Luis Aragones or Pep Guardiola as coach. Xavi is at the top, the results show it.
The first leg : “Sometimes there were times when we were superior, others for Barça. They reversed the result on a corner. It will be a complicated match for both teams. But we have the desire and the need to move on.”
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Xavi’s compliments : “It’s incredible, I’m grateful, I shared a lot of things with him, he had perfect behavior in my first year as coach, he was captain.”
Four former Barça players on the benches in the C1 quarters : “It is a wonder. There are four coaches who have passed through Barça in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. I don’t know who has more Barça DNA, but it’s a marvel for football that the eight coaches and teams provide so much spectacle and goals. I don’t know if there have ever been so many goals in the first leg of the quarter-finals… Football DNA. I congratulate all my colleagues.”
Comments collected at a press conference
