Paris St Germain coach Luis Enrique has been impressed by the improvement his players have shown after one week of training following a busy summer when they finished as Club World Cup runners-up and believes they can retain the Champions League.
PSG had only a few training sessions before beating Tottenham Hotspur on penalties to win the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday, with Luis Enrique praising his team’s fighting spirit as they begin the quest for a fifth Ligue 1 title in a row.
“I like the way the team fought in the European Super Cup, with little training. That has been the DNA of this team in recent seasons, fighting all the time,” he told reporters on the eve of the visit to Nantes for his side’s league opener.
“What we want now is to get our feel for the ball back … at the moment it’s normal not to be at 100 per cent.”
Luis Enrique, who has won back-to-back league titles at PSG, previously led Barcelona to two LaLiga trophies in a row but fell short of a hat-trick.
The 55-year-old said he expected a difficult start to the Ligue 1 campaign, but remained hopeful of a win at Nantes, who finished 13th last season.
“I can see improvements after just one week. We know how difficult it is for players to play away from home, against any team. In Nantes, we’re going to have problems. It will be tight,” he said.
Asked about PSG’s ultimate goal this season, the Spaniard said he wanted to win the Champions League again following their 5-0 thrashing of Inter Milan in this year’s final.
“The prevailing feeling is that of continuing to make history, which has been the primary objective since day one. It’s a special moment because it’s difficult to see a team win the Champions League twice in a row,” he said.
“That’s our goal. We’re very ambitious. We know how difficult this goal is, but it’s normal to have this mentality. It depends on us, on our level. And I think it’s a very fun goal.”
