Coach Luis Enrique announced on Monday that Paris St. Germain will make it to the Champions League round of four if they can bounce back from Barcelona’s 3-2 home victory in the first leg of their quarterfinal last week.
The Spanish coach, who won the triple crown with Barcelona in 2015, was optimistic PSG could bounce back from what he saw to be an unfair defeat and carry on their pursuit of a maiden Champions League title.
“We are firmly convinced that we will turn the score around,” Luis Enrique told a press conference on Monday.
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“The first match was hard fought by both teams but the result did not reflect what we deserved. The 3-2 scoreline means we have to go for the game.“
PSG entered the first leg having gone undefeated in their prior 27 games across all competitions, but they were destroyed by a Barcelona team determined to put their team back at the top of European football after losing in the group stage the previous two years.
In order to prepare for the second leg, PSG was granted a weekend off from League 1 play. Luis Enrique believes this will provide them an edge when implementing an aggressive game plan.
“We will press from minute one and they will play their game.
“When we have the ball we will try to create as many chances as possible,” he said.
“The days after the game were difficult for us, but the good thing about football is that there is another game against the same opponent and now we have the idea of what we have to do.
“We are in a very good moment and we are ready.”
Barcelona welcome the return of Morocco full back Achraf Hakimi, who missed the first leg due to suspension.
According to him, PSG is eager to defeat Barcelona and create a winning culture. He also expressed his manager’s belief that the five-time Champions League winners can be defeated.
“We’re coming here to bring victory back to Paris,” Hakimi told a press conference on Monday.
“We’re coming with a lot of desire, the desire to change what happened in the first leg. We’re coming to win.
“We’ve been talking to each other, we’ve been motivating each other. We want to stick together and win.”