Luis Enrique presented himself at a press conference this Tuesday, on the eve of the reception of Nice for the quarter-final of the Coupe de France. Nice, the only French opponent to have beaten PSG so far. It was last September, at the Parc des Princes. The Spanish coach therefore expects a difficult match, unlike a rather quiet press conference, where the Kylian Mbappé case was not mentioned.
Surely vaccinated by Luis Enrique’s vagrant responses on the subject, the journalists present did not follow up with the Spanish coach on the Mbappé case, even though the latter was again a substitute during the last match against Reims. On the other hand, it was noted that Ousmane Dembélé was also a victim of the intensive turnover caused by Luis Enrique.
Dembélé, a technical choice like for Mbappé?
The Spanish coach conceded a less provocative explanation for this particular case. “I don’t know, really. We study every little detail for all players individually. All matches are important. Matches like tomorrow or in the Champions League are of a high level, which requires us to present our best face. Ousmane has no problem, he was available to the coach. We think that the best training is competition, but we have to control playing time, especially for explosive players like Dembélé and Mbappé. We consider what is best for the team, and that means playing more or fewer minutes depending on the circumstances. »
Dembélé has only started 2 of the last 5 games, coming on in the other 3. And unlike Mbappé, no departure on the horizon for the French international. Which perhaps sheds different light on the choices of Luis Enrique, once again praising Dembélé, whom he describes as “one of the best dribblers in the world”. Luis Enrique in any case seems to give the importance it deserves to the Coupe de France and therefore suggested that his best elements, like Dembélé and Mbappé, would be on the pitch at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday evening.
