Luis Enrique dismissed suggestions there is a sense of doom and gloom around Paris Saint-Germain ahead of their Champions League round-of-16, first leg tie against Chelsea tomorrow night.
PSG suffered a demoralising 3-1 defeat at home to Monaco on Friday night and, although they still top Ligue 1, it was another performance that showed the European champions are struggling to replicate their brilliant form of last season.
PSG failed to make the top eight in the Champions League group phase and had to rely on an unconvincing two-legged defeat of Monaco to make this stage.
Asked if he understood why there was an air of pessimism ahead of the Chelsea tie, Luis Enrique said: “What I understand or don’t understand is not important. I have to prepare the game in the best conditions. It’s normal to have noise around PSG.
“I’m not worried about the noise around us. If the results are good, there is optimism. If the results are not good, it is pessimism that dominates.”
The former Barcelona boss said motivation won’t be a problem against the Premier League side.
He added: “It’s very easy. These ties are easy for motivation. All the players will be motivated tomorrow. We will try to win in this very special stadium that is the Parc des Princes. It’s very nice to play in and we want to take advantage of it. When this type of match happens, overmotivation is a problem. We know how to play but the opponent will want us to do the opposite. We have experience in this kind of challenge.”
Chelsea won’t be anticipating an easy night in Paris, even though the Blues beat PSG 3-0 in the final of the Club World Cup last summer.
Since then, Enzo Maresca has departed and Liam Rosenior appointed as head coach.
Rosenior has made a solid start, losing just three times, all against Arsenal, twice in the EFL Cup semi-finals and once in the league.
Team news for Paris Saint-Germain v Chelsea
PSG will be missing Fabian Ruiz and Quentin Ndjantou but hope Joao Neves will be fit and available.
Chelsea winger Willian Estevao has resumed training but may have to settle for a place on the bench. Jamie Gittens is unavailable.
