first big shock in the Champions League and first tensions

Less attractive for three matches and deprived of Ousmane Dembélé, sanctioned by his coach, the capital club is experiencing its first turmoil of the season.

“If someone doesn’t meet the requirements of the team, that means to me that they are not ready for the match, especially for a match of this level”. On the eve of a tough trip to Arsenal, Luis Enrique did not try to drown out the fish. A few hours earlier, the press had revealed that the absence of Ousmane Dembélé in the group selected for this Champions League clash was a disciplinary sanction.

The Spanish technician, however, did not give more details about the dispute between him and one of his star players. “I don’t want to make it a telenovela. There is no problem between the coach and the player, but between the player and his duties towards the team. I have nothing more to add “he said after several reminders from the French journalists present in London. The advantage of the Asturian is that he has largely accustomed the media to his firmness and this characteristic coldness. So he didn’t give the impression of being more upset than usual.

“I made a difficult decision yesterday but I believe it is the best for the team, without the slightest doubtdeveloped Luis Enrique. This doesn’t mean it’s irrevocable or irreversible. When I signed for PSG, my mission was to field a team, a safe team, which has ideas, valiant, which wants to play football, or at least to try to do so. Tomorrow, it will be the same Paris Saint-Germain, without the slightest doubt. I can’t guarantee we’ll win, but the philosophy will be the same.”. However, this quarrel marks a turning point in the capital club’s season.

Two weeks earlier, he embraced Ousmane Dembélé after his double against Brest, taunting him about his newfound efficiency. Since this meeting, won 3-1 at the Parc des Princes, the Parisian team has struggled to reach the level it was in its first outings. The start of the C1 against Girona was difficult (1-0 thanks to a lucky goal at the end of the match). In Reims, three days later, Paris dropped its first points in Ligue 1 by achieving no better than a draw (1-1). Finally, last Friday, the last twenty minutes of the success against Rennes (3-1) revealed a face that PSG had not yet displayed, that of a team which completely loses its means once the replacements have made their entry into play.

The adversity will increase several notches on Tuesday, against one of the two best teams in the Premier League of the last three years. “Arsenal, with the ball, they’re almost the top. Without it, they’re the top, I don’t think there’s a better team in Europe”also praised Luis Enrique, in reference to the exceptional organization of the Gunners in the defensive phase. Without Dembélé, Paris will have to find a way to break through the lock composed of goalkeeper David Raya, in the middle Declan Rice, via the central hinge William Saliba-Gabriel.

The team that Mikel Arteta – former PSG player (2001-2002) – has transformed is one of the contenders for the Top 8 of this new Champions League, which directly opens the doors to the round of 16. But, against Paris, she will not be able to count on her playing master Martin Odegaard, injured since the last international window. A significant absence which could weigh on the outcome of the match, on the pitch of a team which has only been beaten at home once by a French club in European competition over the last 20 years. The feat was signed by Monaco in 2015, in C1 (3-1).