Luis Enrique has urged Paris St-Germain (PSG) to brace themselves for a Newcastle attack when the two teams meet in Champions League Group F on Tuesday night.
Enrique put the finishing touches on his plan to avenge PSG’s 4-1 humiliation at St James’ Park in October at a rain-soaked Poissy on Monday morning, after paying close attention to Newcastle’s Premier League slaughter of Chelsea.
Eddie Howe’s team was missing 13 senior players on Saturday, but they still won 4-1 with a performance that impressed the PSG manager.
Enrique said, “If you saw the last match against Chelsea, physically, it’s really incredible. Six players are putting on so much pressure that they can pressurize eight players at the same time.
“This intensity in their game and this pressure are things that we need to be prepared for.”
The reigning Ligue 1 champions were soundly beaten on Tyneside, as goals from Miguel Almiron, Dan Burn, Sean Longstaff, and Fabian Schar threw the group wide open.
However, Enrique’s men go into their penultimate fixture knowing a win could see them through to the knockout stage, and while he is understandably wary of Newcastle, that is his focus.
He said, “The competition could be really short; it is a very complicated group, and the ranking is really close, as you see.
“It’s true that now every game is decisive; it’s knockout style. Two teams could be qualified already tomorrow night, depending on the results, so until the last day, we don’t know.
“I’m sure that my team is, though, ready to play, to be competitive on the pitch, and that’s what we’ve been proving throughout the entire season.”
However, Enrique’s men go into their penultimate fixture knowing a win could see them through to the knockout stage, and while he is understandably wary of Newcastle, that is his focus.
PSG have only lost once in all competitions since their disaster at St James’, at AC Milan in their most recent European appearance, and defeated Monaco 5-2 on Friday evening.
However, PSG midfielder Vitinha admits there is a score to settle with the English team.
Vitinha said, “We spoke after that match. We knew it was not a great result for us, of course. That was a very tough game, and we know there’s another tough game tomorrow night awaiting us, but we still want to win.
“Maybe we have that little revenge feeling, but that stays inside us. It is going to be a show, and if we win, that’s the most important thing.
“We know it’s possible to qualify as fast as tomorrow, but we’re just trying to focus on this match and only on this match because the only way for us to qualify is to win, so that is what we are trying to focus on.
“We have to respect what the coach is asking of us and try to do everything to win this match and have a good standing in this group.”
