By Peter Ochieng
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) coach Luis Enrique is hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst ahead of his side’s face-off against Germany’s Borussia Dortmund in the second leg of the Champions League semifinal.
Dortmund beat PSG 1-0 in the first leg at home last week, meaning a win or a draw of any kind will see the Germans through to the final for the first time since 2013, when they lost 0-1 against Bayern Munich.
At the time, Jurgen Klopp, the outgoing Liverpool manager was in the Dortmund dugout.
In an address to the press ahead of the Tuesday night meeting, Enrique said they will go out full throttle to win the match, but insisted that losing is also part of the game.
“Life will continue and when the sun shines in Paris it is always marvelous. If we lose, we will congratulate them and we will wake up again the next day. We might be disgusted, but we will be proud and will say to ourselves that we will get up again and try to get to the final next year.”
He is hunting for his second Champions League title, after leading Barcelona to the crown in 2014/2015, when Lionel Andres Messi, Neymar and Luis Alberto Suarez were at the peak of their footballing prowess.
PSG has never lifted the Champions League trophy. The closest the Persians have come to winning was during the 2020 final, when they lost 0-1 to Bayern Munich.
Enrique said if they have to win, they will need to score as immediately as possible.
“The objective is not to play to win by two goals, it is just to win. You can’t afford to think about having to win by two goals. We need to score one first of all, and win the match,” added the Spaniard.
After losing 2-3 to Barcelona at home in the first leg of the quarter final, PSG players had to be at their best to thrash the Catalans 4-1 in the second leg to reach the semis.
“It doesn’t matter if we concede – it happened against Barcelona – we’ll just need to stay calm,” added the tactician.
“Our objective is that our best players participate. The more they take part in the game the better it is. But I want my strikers to be touching the ball in the areas where they can make a difference. I want him to get on the ball where he can be dangerous.”
The winner will face the winner of the Bayern versus Real Madrid tie in the final later this month.
Bayern and Real drew 2-2 in the first leg in Munich last week. The second leg will be played on Wednesday night in Madrid.