“How difficult it has been for me! I hope not to play against Barça many more times”
BARCELONA, 17 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Paris Saint-Germain coach, Luis Enrique Martínez, assured that they would have beaten FC Barcelona also without the expulsion of Blaugrana Ronald Araujo after half an hour, but he believes that 1-4 is “fair” for his team, adding that On an emotional and personal level, it was difficult for him to measure himself against his former team and, facing the semifinals, he thought that he would have preferred to play against Atlético de Madrid and not against Borussia Dortmund.
“We continue to grow. We have been superb in the pressure, the forwards have done an exceptional job, and the midfielders and the defense, all of us. We have been able to play the game where we wanted and the expulsion is obviously playing an important factor. But I think that without expulsion we would have also won this match. The result is fair,” he said at a press conference.
“I feel very happy, my team has been in the game at all times. We started in a spectacular way, with 12 wonderful minutes and in the first action that Barça arrives, it ends in a goal. Same feeling as in the first leg, which we did not deserve lose but we lost. Here we didn’t deserve to concede a goal and we conceded it,” he added.
In addition, he reiterated that the 2-3 score in the first leg in Paris did not do justice to what happened on the green. “Streaks are impossible to maintain over time. After the first leg the result didn’t seem fair to me. We knew that things would happen here and that there would be goals. The players believed, they are very happy,” he said.
On a personal level, he recognized the difficulty of having played against Barça, his former team. “First of all, how difficult it has been to play against Barça. I’m talking about the sentimental and emotional level, for me. It has been very difficult. I have tried to control my emotions as much as possible. I have done what I considered appropriate and what I felt, but I hope not play many more times against Barça,” he asked.
He did not want to comment on the key play, the expulsion of Ronald Araujo. “I have a habit of never talking about the referees. I have only seen the play live. Since I have been a coach for more than 12 years I try not to judge the referees. For me, playing against Barça has been very difficult and I hope that it will not be repeat. It is evident that an expulsion is conditional, but I remain faithful to my way of seeing this,” he was sincere.
Regarding the semi-final match against Dortmund, he indicated that he preferred Atlético de Madrid. “I would like to continue in Spain and go to Madrid, because we already know Dortmund from the groups (they were second behind Borussia), but we dedicate the pass to the fans who have come from Paris,” he said.
“We will see ourselves in the semi-finals against Dortmund, a team that plays very well. It will be very difficult but first we are going to enjoy this victory, to celebrate that we are still alive and with great enthusiasm. I hope that this will help us win the ‘Champions’, which will help us help us enjoy more semifinals and that we can play in the final. That is the objective,” he said.
2024-04-16 22:24:06
#expulsion #won
