'Ridiculous' to criticise PSG for back-to-back defeats, says Luis Enrique
Luis Enrique maintains he is satisfied with his side’s performance despite suffering their second-straight Ligue 1 defeat on Saturday.
Luis Enrique says it would be "ridiculous" to look too deeply into Paris Saint-Germain slumping to a second straight Ligue 1 defeat on Saturday.
The Spaniard put out a heavily rotated starting lineup for Saturday’s clash against Strasbourg, undoubtedly keeping one eye on Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Arsenal.
Strasbourg, who are now in fourth place and certainly eyeing a Champions League spot, took the lead in the 20th minute when Mamadou Sarr's header deflected into the net off Lucas Hernandez.
The hosts then doubled their advantage late in the first half as Felix Lemarechal curled a brilliant strike into the top corner.
PSG raced out the blocks after the break, pulling a goal back after just 44 seconds, courtesy of a composed run and finish from Bradley Barcola.
The visitors rallied hard for a late equaliser, with Goncalo Ramos squandering good opportunities, sending a header wide of the target and seeing a last-gasp effort denied by Djordje Petrovic as the hosts held on to win 2-1.
It marks the first time since April 2023 that PSG have lost back-to-back Ligue 1 matches, following last weekend’s defeat to Nice.
Despite the loss, Luis Enrique insisted that he is pleased with the way his side performed.
“It was a very high-level match,” the PSG manager said.
“It is not worth going too deep into it because the objectives I had imagined have materialised, apart from the result.
“I think it was a very close match between two teams who want to play in the Champions League next season.
“It's ridiculous to go beyond that. I also want to say that we were close to a draw, we had chances. But it’s not easy to play against this Strasbourg team.
“They have a lot of quality and experience. Now, we have to recover and enter a phase of immersion for Wednesday’s match [against Arsenal].”
Speaking on the rotated lineup that featured a host of academy graduates, the Spaniard added: “We started with four players from the academy and finished with five. I am very satisfied with their performances.”
Indeed, with Warren Zaire-Emery, Senny Mayulu, Axel Tape and Ibrahim Mbaye all included in the starting lineup, PSG became the first team in the big five European leagues to start a league match with four players born in 2006 or later.
PSG now turn their attention to Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Arsenal at the Parc des Princes, where they hold a narrow 1-0 advantage from the first leg.