Luis Enrique faces Champions League opener with redesigned PSG: “Obsession is never a good sign”

“It’s never even a good sign that a team, a club, is obsessed with anything. You have to have ambition, but an obsession, that never works. Not in any domain,” said the Spaniard, who won the Champions League as a coach with FC Barcelona in 2015.

Ever since a Qatari investment fund led by the much-discussed Nasser al-Khelaïfi took over the club in 2011, a final victory at the championship ball has always been the main goal. That never worked, all too often the eighth or quarter-finals were the final goal. In the COVID year 2020, they lost the final to Bayern Munich. They are no longer even considered among the top favorites for this season. PSG is in a difficult group, with AC Milan and Newcastle as opponents in addition to the Boruses. “A lot depends on how the group stage starts,” Luis Enrique also knows. “We are motivated and want to win every competition.”

After the departure of Lionel Messi and Neymar, among others, Paris Saint-Germain is experiencing a mixed and mainly mediocre start to the season in Ligue 1, with eight out of fifteen. Last weekend they lost at home to Nice. It ensures that there is already pressure on the boiler. “It’s true that we didn’t get off to a very good start. But I’ve only just arrived here and the players still have to adapt. That is often the case and it takes time. But I know the football world well enough to know that you don’t get much time. If the results are bad, the coach flies out. But I notice that there are already many things that the team is doing well. There is still room for progression, but they are certainly picking up on my instructions. There is certainly nothing to criticize about their attitude.”

Borussia Dortmund is still undefeated this season and will therefore travel to the Prinsenpark with the necessary confidence. Julien Duranville is not available due to an injury. Thomas Meunier, also injured, is not even on the Boruses’ European list.