Luis Enrique: 'A special match in an incredible stadium'
Men's football•
The Paris Saint-Germain coach spoke to PSG TV and the world's media ahead of Wednesday's UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg against Liverpool.
"We had spoken about the importance of winning the match against Toulouse, before Lille-Lens, and the importance of getting the job done, because we're in the best position in the league and we go into the Champions League in good spirits. That's the job of a coach: find how to perform. What I want all the time is to show the same identity and look to play football and enjoy it."
"We're going to try to have the ball more than Liverpool, a very good team with quality players and a very good coach. It'll be difficult. In the quarter-finals, it's naturally a special game, because there are just eight teams. When you start to get used to being at this level, it's great as a team. It's of course positive to be able to show it against Liverpool. What we want is to qualify. We're aware of the difficulty but we're motivated. We want to enjoy playing at the Parc."
"On Wednesday, it'll be important to show that desire to play football, to enjoy the Parc, the fans, the atmosphere. It's the most important thing for us and our fans: to give 100%. What will the result be? We'll see. Last season, we put in one of our best performances, but we lost. Liverpool were favourites, and PSG qualified. There's no favourite at this stage of the competition. It's important to look to control what we can control. Liverpool are a very high level team and to think you're the favourites is the best way to make a mess of things. It's not important to know who's the favourite in this competition, in this kind of game. It's impossible that there's a favourite. For me, there isn't one."
"I think that we played a very very high-level first leg. The fact we lost that game is incredible, it defied football. I would take your hand off for a performance of the same quality...but not the result! We want to play attacking football, we try to win regardless of the opponent, and above all enjoy the moment at the Parc, this incredible stadium, and our fans. It's great to play these matches at home. That'll be the key."