On the eve of Paris Saint-Germain’s second Champions League final in twelve months, head coach Luis Enrique praised the quality of tomorrow’s opponents, especially in light of their recent Premier League title triumph.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, the Asturian coach was asked about the contrasting playing styles of the two finalists, with Arsenal often viewed as the more defensively structured side.
“I wouldn’t say we have two differrent visions, we have similar ideas but have taken different paths,” Luis Enrique explained. “They also score a lot of goals, and we are also a team that defends very well. We’ve just taken different paths to get to that. Approaching a final is always something different, you need to make the most of it as you never know when you’re going to play one again.”
“I wasn’t surprised to see them win the Premier League, they deserved the title. They were the best team, the most consistent team, despite the competition from Manchester City. This is going to be their seventh year under Mikel Arteta, and you can clearly see what kind of team he has put together.”
“We’ve had the time to analyse our opponent, we know them quite well as we’ve played them a few times over the last few years. There are always details we can tweak, I think we can improve our performances up front and in defence, that’s what we train for.”
In team news, both Ousmane Dembélé and Achraf Hakimi have been declared fit and included in the matchday squad after late fitness races over the past few weeks. The head coach also confirmed that right-back Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes, who had been dealing with a hamstring issue last month, are both available for selection.
