Enrique confident PSG can beat Salzburg

Paris St Germain manager Luis Enrique believes his side have what it takes to defeat RB Salzburg today in a game they must win despite a nightmare start to their Champions League campaign.
PSG have four points from five games and risk missing the cut for the knockout stage as they sit in 25th place - two points outside the playoff positions. However, the French side’s defeats have come against high calibre opponents, including Champions League regulars Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich plus last season’s Premier League runners-up Arsenal.
They can also take heart from their performances in Ligue 1, where they are unbeaten after 14 matches and have a five-point lead at the top. With a clash against 2023 champions Manchester City coming up in January, the game with Salzburg in Austria and their final group match at VfB Stuttgart could represent PSG’s best chances to earn points and rise up the standings.
“There are no easy away games, either in the (French) league or in the Champions League,” Luis Enrique said on Monday. “It’s a game tomorrow that’s vitally important for us and I hope my team isn’t too affected. From the 19 or 20 games I’ve seen, I like what I see, my team gives me confidence... The magic formula is clear: create more chances than your opponents. You have to create 20, 25 or even 30 chances, which is all the better. And we have to concede as few goals as possible and make sure our opponents have fewer chances. We’re going to try and improve. We need to keep our confidence up. We have to keep pressing.”
Asked if he was targeting a specific number of points to ensure PSG would reach the knockout stages, the Spaniard added: “Nobody knows how many points will be needed, it’s impossible to guess. We don’t want to get into that. We have to win the three remaining games, that’s our objective.”
PSG have one of the youngest squads in the Champions League, with an average age of 24, but Luis Enrique said inexperience was not a factor in their poor showing in Europe this season. “I think our young players have experience. Those who were here last season are used to high standards,” he added.
“I try to get the best out of the individual and the team. I love matches like tomorrow’s... These are games you have to win. I never line up my players according to their age but according to what I see in training.”
PSG have developed a reputation over the last decade as being one of Europe’s most glamorous clubs, albeit without ever claiming the Champions League glory so coveted by their Qatari owners. Now, however, a team stripped of superstars is drifting dangerously towards mediocrity and at risk of an unthinkable early exit from the continent’s elite club competition.
Ten points may be needed to advance and Luis Enrique’s team still have tough games against Manchester City and Stuttgart to come, meaning the pressure is on in Salzburg. Runners-up in 2020 and semi-finalists last season, PSG have not gone out of the Champions League before the knockout rounds since 2004/05, when their biggest name was Portuguese striker Pedro Miguel Pauleta.
The departure of Kylian Mbappe after last season marked a change in policy, with PSG deciding to focus on building a new team with talented but unproven youngsters. The likes of Warren Zaire-Emery, Joao Neves and Bradley Barcola, all aged between 18 and 22, are now regulars in Luis Enrique’s team, while France winger Ousmane Dembele is probably the most recognisable face.
Fans are clearly not overly enamoured, with empty seats now a common sight at many PSG home matches at the 48,000-capacity Parc des Princes – that is especially concerning at a time when the club are looking at the possibility of building a much larger new ground in the suburbs.
There is also uncertainty about the future of director of football Luis Campos, whose contract expires at the end of the season. However, PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi is sticking by Luis Enrique, telling L’Equipe: “We have a strategy for the short, medium and long term and I have full faith in the coach and players. Our project has solid foundations and we will keep building on those.”
Those foundations will nevertheless be far less solid if PSG do not rapidly improve in the Champions League, starting today.