PSG head coach Luis Enrique reacts to their 1-0 win over UEFA Champions League debutants Girona in the opening game of their group stage campaign
Parc des Princes, Paris, France
Parc des Princes, Paris, France
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00:00Good evening, coach. Giovanni Castaldi, the team's manager.
00:05What did you think of your team's game?
00:08It was a bit far from being perfect in terms of the score,
00:11but in terms of the content, what did you like and what did you not like?
00:14Thank you, coach.
00:18Good evening, first of all.
00:21I think the game at the start was heavy for us.
00:26I want to say that it was heavy because we were imprecise.
00:30And when you start a competition like this,
00:33and what it represents for a club like ours,
00:37we started imprecise, missing easy passes,
00:41not daring to play passes from the inside.
00:44Girona defended very well.
00:47They showed why they were leaders last season,
00:50many games in LaLiga.
00:53They showed why they qualified for the Champions League.
00:56They showed that they have a coach and are a high-level club,
01:01and that they play much better for me than many other teams
01:05in the top three, and even in the top two and top one,
01:08I dare say, without any doubt.
01:10And it was very difficult, as it couldn't be otherwise.
01:15Maybe I didn't like those imprecisions at the start,
01:18but I understand them.
01:20And I really liked the second half.
01:22I think that in the second half, the technical and physical rhythm
01:26was much better than in Girona.
01:29We had two or three very clear chances to score.
01:33We didn't score.
01:35And when it looked like everything was going to be tied,
01:38Nuno scored with a bit of luck.
01:41I couldn't see it.
01:43But in the end, I think they deserved three points.
01:46And three points that are very good for our fans,
01:49because they didn't stop cheering us on until the 95th minute,
01:54and we didn't stop fighting until that very minute.
01:59Hello, Luis.
02:01Benjamin Coires for Le Parisien.
02:03You said that you didn't score tonight before the 90th minute.
02:07How do you explain the offensive difficulties of your team,
02:10especially in the first half,
02:12to Dembele and Barcola, who have more trouble in the first half?
02:15In the second half, it was obviously easier.
02:18You still made 26 shots at the end of the match.
02:20How do you explain these offensive difficulties?
02:22Is it a question of realism,
02:24or do you have more trouble bringing your actions in the previous matches?
02:28Realism? What realism?
02:39Realism? I don't know what realism means.
02:42Effectiveness.
02:43Effectiveness. Thank you.
02:45Effectiveness.
02:47In Montpellier, we scored six goals.
02:49Normally, in the first half, we score four.
02:51Today, we had more than 20 shots on goal
02:55against a rival that defended very well.
02:58We scored a goal.
03:00It's football.
03:01It's a wonderful sport.
03:04I think it would be very unfair
03:07to start seeing problems where I don't see them.
03:10But I respect any opinion.
03:13I think Girona were at a very high level in the first half.
03:20In the second half, we were infinitely better.
03:23In the first half, we were also at a high level.
03:25Except for two or three moments
03:27when they came out of our pressure
03:29and created a problem for us.
03:32I think if you look at the chances,
03:36if you look at the expected goals,
03:39the goal is favourable to our interests.
03:44But today, we weren't effective.
03:48It's football.
03:50Good evening, coach. Alice Lefebvre for AFP.
03:53Can we hear from Marco Asensio,
03:55who was injured in the leg?
03:57Thank you very much.
04:00Yes, he was injured.
04:02He had a puncture.
04:04Tomorrow, the relevant tests will be done.
04:06The doctor and the club will let you know when it's real.
04:14But yes, he was injured. He asked for a change.
04:17It's a shame because I think he was at a very high level.
04:20It's a shame because we don't want the players to get injured.
04:23But it's normal.
04:28Good evening, Luis Enrique Arnauer.
04:30The team in this, I don't know what to call it,
04:33group stage, mini-championship.
04:36When you have the goal, like you, to be in the top eight,
04:39I imagine that, despite the performance that may not have been perfect,
04:43starting with a victory is a good omen for the future,
04:47especially since you have a rather difficult schedule with big teams.
04:58Winning is important in any competition,
05:00in any category and at any time.
05:03But I don't dare to assess whether we have to be among the top eight,
05:07among the 24.
05:09I don't dare to assess because we have the worst schedule of the 36 teams.
05:13The statistics say it, I don't say it.
05:16I don't know if that will be fulfilled.
05:18I only know that we are surely tied, in illusion,
05:22to the best team of this championship.
05:25Nobody beats us in that.
05:27If we deserve to be among the top eight, the 24,
05:30or not to be among the 24,
05:32it will be our performance that indicates it.
05:35But I don't dare to predict where we have to be
05:41because I can't compare myself to any other team.
05:4436 teams, 36 different schedules.
05:50Good evening, Luis.
05:51Right in front of you, slightly to your left.
05:55I would like to mention Nuno Mendes' positioning.
05:57When your team has the ball, he is often positioned in the defensive line of three.
06:01Doesn't that role bind him?
06:03We saw him more at his ease in the second period,
06:06when he was able to play a little higher.
06:10He played the same in the second half as in the first.
06:13Except for some changes that we have made on time
06:16and that we are also looking for, it is the same position.
06:20This is a team.
06:22I know that he likes it and I know that he is an incredible attacking player,
06:26but he is also a very good defensive player.
06:28The team needs that
06:30and there will be other moments to play more offensively with him.
06:35But the balance within the team is important
06:38and in this case, Nuno is usually behind in that phase of the game.
06:44He can be incorporated,
06:45but there has to be a series of patterns so that he can be incorporated.
06:53Good evening, coach.
06:54This is Morat Sefian for the Parisian Source.
06:57A question about tonight's game,
06:58but not only when you come across a game where you are in trouble,
07:01where it is pushy, 60th, 70th.
07:04Do you say that it is more the players who are on the field that must eventually change
07:08or do you say that it is perhaps the tactics?
07:10Who makes this decision and when did you make it tonight?
07:18Normally, we have the same idea of ​​the game.
07:22As in the first part, we have had difficulties
07:24and there were players who were not at their level,
07:29the second has changed completely and we have entered at a different pace.
07:32The second part has been much more fluid,
07:35we have been able to make much more danger on the right side,
07:37on the left side as well.
07:41At this time, the changes from player to player
07:44I think have given us a little more freshness, a little more strength
07:48and I think the physical level has been important, the rhythm.
07:51Girona has noticed it much more in the second part than in the first.
07:56But who is going to decide?
07:57The coach, that's what they pay me for.
07:59The coach and my staff.
08:04Coach, you were talking about Girona,
08:06who came out two or three times of your pressing.
08:09This weekend, Eric Roy, the coach of Brest,
08:11said that your team was running in an incredible way.
08:13Since the beginning of the season,
08:15do you think that what happens best in your team
08:17is this ability to press, to counter-press?
08:26It is one of the characteristics of any team that has the ball.
08:30Any team that wants to be big and have the ball,
08:32we have had a 70% possession of the ball against Girona.
08:37In Girona, you will see in the next game,
08:39in the Champions League and in the League,
08:41how much possession it has.
08:43We have managed to take the ball away from Girona,
08:46and if we are able to press as we press,
08:49and run as we run,
08:51we become a very, very, very difficult team.
08:55That is the goal.
08:56Then it will like more or less, I respect that.
08:59But those are the characteristics of my teams.
09:03My teams always play, or try to play good football,
09:06they usually have more of the ball than the rival,
09:08and they usually run a lot.
09:10That without doing pre-season.
09:11Imagine when we do pre-season.
09:15Good evening, Luis.
09:16Dani Gil, live for the match of the Copa del Rey.
09:19I don't know if you can tell us a little more
09:22about what Marco Asensio has, how he is.
09:24And on the other hand,
09:25Michel has spoken very fondly of you.
09:28I don't know if you can also explain a little
09:29what you have said after the game.
09:32Well, at the end of the game I told him
09:34that I have suffered more than in a birth,
09:36and that I have not been in a birth,
09:38but I have not been the protagonist.
09:42I have suffered a lot for the game,
09:45for the need to win and get three points,
09:49because I saw that it was difficult for us
09:52in the first part to generate danger,
09:55in the second it has been different,
09:56but we missed the chances.
09:58And when the 90th minute approaches
10:00and you see that you are not able to get your first game,
10:03well, I have suffered, obviously.
10:05I have congratulated him,
10:07not only for today's game,
10:08but for what he represents as a coach,
10:11him and Girona, for European football.
10:14And you will see,
10:16I am sure that they will get points,
10:18and that they are a very complicated team.
10:20And Marco Asensio,
10:22I left the medicine career in the last year,
10:24I can't tell you exactly what he has.
10:29Good evening,
10:30this is Alessandro Grandesso, Gazetta dello Sport.
10:32You have mentioned the pressure
10:34on your team for this first match.
10:36Has Barcelona undergone a little more pressure
10:40by being in the area of Mbappé last year?
10:46Everything that also represents his role this year.
10:51Are you satisfied with this performance?
10:56I am very satisfied with the performance of all my players.
10:59We have even been able to change small things in the pressure
11:03to be more effective.
11:04Braile is the same wonderful player
11:07that two weeks ago idolized the whole world.
11:10He is the same player,
11:12he is a young player with a lot of quality,
11:15offensive and defensive,
11:16who wants to improve.
11:19I am very happy,
11:20but I don't make comparisons.
11:22I am no longer interested in the past,
11:24I am interested in the present.
11:25And the present,
11:27after starting the season as we have started,
11:30and after seeing the response of our fans every game,
11:33I don't care about the past at all,
11:35I care about the present.
11:36And to see the attitude of my players,
11:38of struggle and dedication until the end.
11:42Hello, how are you?
11:43Manu Terradillos, Onda Acero live, Radio Estadio de Noche.
11:45I wanted to ask you a double question.
11:46First, when you were preparing for this game,
11:48taking into account the rival,
11:50did you foresee that you would have so many difficulties
11:52to take the victory?
11:53And I would also like Onda Acero to know a little more
11:55about how you have seen Girona
11:57as a team that debuted in the Champions League.
11:59Thank you very much.
12:00Well, first, the debutant role.
12:02You have already seen it.
12:04The ball does not burn them at any time.
12:06We have been able to take that ball away
12:08because we have pressed well.
12:10There have been two or three moments in the first half
12:12in which they have given us a good round,
12:15and we have had to run back very quickly.
12:18And we have realized that it was not a joke.
12:20Neither the stage nor the game has weighed on them.
12:24Girona, for me,
12:25when I saw the draw,
12:26I already knew that it was not a great team.
12:28I already knew it,
12:29and you will see it in the next days of the Champions League,
12:32because they are going to take the ball away from most teams.
12:35And if they take the ball away from most teams,
12:37they know how to hurt.
12:39And it seems to me that they have many options
12:41to move forward in this competition.
12:44However, they should notice much more
12:46that five indisputable starters from last year
12:49are not on the squad right now.
12:51Even so, they are still a faithful example
12:55of what their coach is,
12:56of what Mitchell is,
12:57and I can only congratulate them
12:59and wish them the best.
13:02Last question.
13:04Hi, Luis Enrique here behind.
13:05Nuria Vilamana, live on the air of La Cadena Ser.
13:08I'm a bit influenced by Girona.
13:11I don't know if you were surprised by the personality
13:13he has played with here in the Parque de los PrÃncipes,
13:15and if you really see him with options
13:17to qualify for the next phase of the Champions League.
13:20Absolutely, yes.
13:22With options to qualify, without a doubt.
13:24As you can see from the level they have shown,
13:27it is true that I have been able to say at some point
13:31that it is possible that the game weighs on them.
13:33If the game had started as it seemed it could have,
13:38with an opportunity in the opening draw
13:40and we almost scored a goal,
13:41it would surely have weighed on them.
13:43But I think the idea that Mitchell conveys is very clear.
13:46Playing football well is unnegotiable.
13:48They play wonderfully.
13:50That's why the draw we got is what it is.
13:53In theory, those of the Bombo 4 are the weakest teams.
13:56As Santos and Girona, fortunately not.
13:59And unfortunately for us.
14:01But yes, they can qualify without a doubt.
14:03They also have a difficult schedule.
14:05But for what they represent, for the idea
14:09and for how committed they are,
14:11and for the level of their coach, without a doubt.
14:15Thank you. Have a good evening.