October 15
Spanish coach: "I don't like having a big lead at halftime"
Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique admitted that his team experienced difficult moments during the second half of their thrilling encounter against Manchester City, despite leading 3-0 at halftime, before ultimately securing a 4-2 victory in the Champions League.
The Parisian team delivered a strong attacking display at Manchester City's stadium on Wednesday evening, in a match characterized by its fast pace and relentless pressure from both sides. However, the home team's response after the break put PSG's victory under serious threat, according to their Spanish coach.
Enrique: We would have lost if we had been unlucky.
Luis Enrique praised his players' performance in the first half, but didn't hide his concern about the turnaround in the game after the break, emphasizing that the result wasn't guaranteed despite the significant lead.
"It was an exciting match," the Paris Saint-Germain coach said during the press conference, as reported by French channels. "What we expected about the game happened exactly as we anticipated. When you watch a match of this caliber between two teams constantly striving to play and applying relentless pressure, you expect an exciting and exceptional encounter at a very high tempo, and that's what happened."
He added: "We overcame their pressure in the first half and deserved this result. I don't like going into halftime with such a large lead, 3-0, because it can lead to complacency in the second half. At that point, the opponent had lost the game and had to take a lot of risks to try and come back."
But the Spanish coach admitted that his team faced significant difficulties in the second half, saying: "We had a lot of problems, and if we had been unlucky today, we would have lost this match."
Enrique revealed that he spoke to his assistant, Raphael Pol, during the match, noting that luck was on Paris' side this time, after the team had suffered from bad luck in some of their previous Ligue 1 matches.
He explained: "At one point in the second half, I spoke to Raphael Pol and told him: 'Today we had all the luck we lacked in the early rounds of Ligue 1, when the opponent would shoot every time and score.'"
He concluded his remarks on the game's twists and turns by saying: "Today, a kind of balance was reached. No result would have been fair today." Why did Paris Saint-Germain struggle despite leading 3-0?
Despite finishing the first half with a commanding 3-0 lead, Paris Saint-Germain had to contend with intense pressure from Manchester City after the break, as the English side launched a massive attack in search of a comeback.
Luis Enrique pointed out that City's risk-taking was expected given their three-goal deficit, but it made his team's task more difficult, especially as their ability to cope with the pressure diminished.
He said: "When a team is 3-0 down, they take risks, and that's what Manchester City did. At times, they only had one player at the back, which meant a lot of players in attack."
He added: "It's difficult to deal with that, and we struggled against their pressure. In the first half, we pressed almost perfectly. In the second half, we made mistakes, but dealing with these kinds of matches isn't easy."
Despite the English pressure, Paris managed to score their fourth goal through Magnus Akliuch, while Ferran Torres missed a penalty for Manchester City, in one of the moments that reflected the many twists and turns of the match.
Enrique emphasized the importance of another victory in England against the Premier League leaders for his team, saying: "Ultimately, winning again in England against the Premier League leaders is always a motivational boost. I think that's important for us."
