UEFA Champions League day 6 – Barcelona 3-1 PSG
Luis Enrique, Barcelona coach
“We played at a very high level. We put in a serious game against a difficult opponent, who closed down at the back and took an early lead. We are stronger if we have the chance to use different set ups. Then our opponents don’t know what to expect from us.
It was difficult, especially conceding a goal. We made use of our best players to hurt Paris as much as we could. I think we are stronger now and our opponents do not know what to expect, so it has been a positive night. The team is not designed according to the opponent but according to how much damage we can inflict. We make the most of the characteristics of our players.
We have defended the same all season. We do not want corners against us, that is important. We always suffer from corners because of the height of our team. This was a game that we had to win because our aim was to top the group. And that is precisely what we have done – now we’ll see if home advantage is as important as they say!”
Laurent Blanc, Paris coach
“We feel frustrated because we had an idea of how the match would go but we lacked quality going forward. We could have scored to make it 2-2 with the chances we had. We lacked efficiency in attack and defence. We lacked the right level.
We had to take risks, we ended up playing four forwards. We wanted a good result and we wanted to take risks. We almost scored to make it 2-0 but it did not happen. Great players turn a small chance into a goal, into a great goal. We tried to make it 2-2 but we lost 3-1 unfortunately.
We had planned to play on the counterattack but I think in the first half we had more chances than Barcelona. We made life difficult for them. We focused on the midfield and it did work more or less well. We lacked something, though, and we could have defended better”.
