Luis Enrique praises PSG for making knockouts despite ‘worst draw’

Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique on Wednesday praised his side for making the Champions League knockout stages despite having the “worst draw of the 36 teams involved”.

PSG were dominant in a 4-1 win at Stuttgart on Wednesday, having come into the game needing victory to guarantee they made the top 24 and avoid an early exit from the competition.

Ousmane Dembele scored a hat-trick after Bradley Barcola’s opener as the French champions climbed to 15th in the table. 

PSG will meet Ligue 1 rivals Brest or Monaco in a two-legged knockout tie in February. 

“Our objective of qualifying has been achieved. We had the worst draw of the 36 teams involved, which was frustrating at the start, but we managed to clearly achieve our objective, and the performances were there,” Luis Enrique said in a press conference.

PSG lost to Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid, while drawing at home against PSV Eindhoven. 

Under the new competition structure – introduced for the 2024-25 season – all teams are put in pots and drawn to face eight teams at random, as opposed to the previous system of playing three sides home and away.

The coach, who won the Champions League as Barcelona boss in 2015, said PSG’s final ranking of 15th, with 13 points, “was a bit unfair, we deserved five more points at least.”

“Our team showed personality and ambition and defended well,” Luis Enrique said. 

“Our team is one of the youngest, (but) we have the capacity to bounce back when the going gets tough.”

Goalscorer Dembele said PSG would have to wait and see who they faced after Friday’s draw, but said the game would be “a battle”.

The one downside for PSG was an ankle injury to 18-year-old midfielder Warren Zaire-Emery, who limped off late in the game. 

Luis Enrique said: “I don’t know anything. We’ll have to wait for tests tomorrow to have a clear idea, but it doesn’t look very good.”