A long and intense period begins on Sunday evening for Paris Saint-Germain. Indeed, the troops of Luis Enrique, who largely validated their ticket for the round of 16 of the Champions League against Stade Brestois (0-3 then 7-0) in dams, move on the lawn of Groupama Stadium CE weekend to face Olympique Lyonnais, as part of the 23rd day of Ligue 1.. The first golden poster of an interminable list that awaits the Parisians since they will then play their quarter -final of the French Cup against the Stade Briochin, before continuing by a dating duel against Lille, a double confrontation against Liverpool, a trap match against the Stade Rennais and finally the classic face At Olympique de Marseille at the Parc des Princes. In less than a month, PSG will therefore play its survival in the French Cup and the Champions League, while operating a championship calendar far from being simple. Present at a press conference this Saturday, on the eve of the match against the Gones, coach Luis Enrique did not mince his words.
It is obvious that the management of the calendar will be fundamental to Luis Enrique and his troops: “My goal is to keep them all preparing and under pressure as a coach. At the moment, since January, we have been playing almost every 3 or 4 days, I am convinced to deal with this type of competition. It takes a workforce and a team of union and collective strength. And then we have to manage playing times. It's not easy, but not depend on one or two players, it's something positive“Said the Spanish coach before being questioned about the drawing of the Champions League and Liverpool, the future adversary of the Parisians in the round of 16 of the competition:”I think we will face one of the best Liverpools in recent seasons. It will be a very high level 8th and one of the most interesting». Words as an introduction that have been largely completed and detailed by the Spanish coach.
Luis Enrique expects a crazy poster!
Chance of the calendar, the LOSC, which will face Borussia Dortmund in the 8th finals, is supposed to play against PSG in the championship a few days earlier. The Lille club asked for the postponement of this day to facilitate the recovery of the two teams. Waiting for a response from the LFP, PSG is best prepared to face Liverpool, a team that has been fueling effectively since the start of the season. But all this does not scare Luis Enrique: “Regarding the dates, it is the sports leadership and the club that take care of it and which find the best options. There are interests that can be common or different. It is difficult to find an agreement when the interests are divergent, but we should be able to arrive at these matches with more days of rest. We are prepared to be competitive. We played 10 Champions League games and they 8, if you see the profile of the statistics in attack and defense, we are very similar teams. We are both in the highest percentage. This will be a double confrontation with two equal teams. The two teams are also different. We approach the goal differently. Liverpool showed that they played a very high level and in the same way, too, for everything we deserve, we won our place. It's 50/50».
As for the draw, Luis Enrique specifies that, even if he did not watch it live, the double confrontation facing the Reds will have a finish perfume before the hour and that a large golden poster like this may have a positive impact on the group's cohesion and the level of its team: “I did not see the little paper because I took a cappuccino with my wife and Rafel Pol. I was not looking at the draw. I am delighted, the two teams are very high. This double confrontation will be extremely attractive, one of the most interesting we can have. It will necessarily be interesting. All this is very exciting, this competition begins to give us very exciting things to see. Since the league phase that we had to play against very high level teams, we could see it with City Real Madrid which could have been a final. There are important matches that can happen to any phase of the competition. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing». In any case, before thinking of Arne Slot's troops, PSG will have to get rid of the Lyon trap on Sunday evening at Groupama Stadium…
