“Devastating Defeat Still Haunts PSG Coach: The Unforgettable Night at St James’ Park”
Newcastle United’s Champions League adventure may be over for this season, but Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique is still reflecting on that 4-1 defeat for his side at St James’ Park.
The victory on a raucous Tyneside night would turn out to be Eddie Howe’s only win of the campaign, although they came within a whisker of qualifying for the knockout stages before a home defeat to AC Milan ended their European bid. Goals from Miguel Almiron, Dan Burn, Sean Longstaff, and Fabian Schar rocked the French champions, and it was only a late controversial penalty in the return game that prevented United from doing the double over them in the group.
PSG went on to the knockout stages after finishing second behind group winners Borussia Dortmund, but it seems that defeat to Newcastle still rankles with Enrique. And nearly three months later, he insists his side were ‘unlucky’ to lose in such a manner.
“I already said it at the time: the defeat at Newcastle was, for me, very unfair and totally undeserved, and the statistics reflect it,” he told PSG TV. “The score was unfairly heavy, but that’s OK; it’s football.
“Not everything went the way we planned, but then we worked on what didn’t go. But I saw players who were involved. You have to know that every match is different, and we never prepare for them in the same way.
“I know it was a match that my detractors and those who always want PSG to lose loved. It doesn’t matter; it’s part of the process. You lose, you lose. But I didn’t have to go back on anything because I liked what I saw.”
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