Luis Enrique expected as usual a flurry of questions on the case of Kylian Mbappé on the eve of the Nice reception.
But with the importance of the Coupe de France, the management of Ousmane Dembélé or the absence of a spirit of revenge against Nice, the Spanish technician ultimately only had one small question with the situation in the background. of Parisian number 7.
And this time, he didn't kick into touch.
We often talk to you about your management of Kylian Mbappé, what support do you have from your hierarchy?
LUIS ENRIQUE.
Since my first meeting at the club with the president and Luis Campos, I have always felt full support.
The idea is to do something different compared to previous coaches, with a team made up of a lot of young players.
The idea is also that our supporters follow us.
I'm having a good time as a coach.
OGC Nice is the only team to have beaten PSG this season in Ligue 1, do you have a feeling of revenge?
No, there is no spirit of revenge in any way.
This was our only defeat of the season and until five weeks ago it was our direct opponent for the title of French champion.
It's a team that I like, which works a lot with or without the ball.
It is the team which concedes the fewest goals with Brest and which has the fewest goals in expected goals.
It's not a feeling of revenge.
We don't have those kinds of feelings.
Is this match against Nice a good preparation for the quarter-final of the Champions League?
They are different competitions.
In each match, we have aspects that we can improve but this is valid for all teams.
The Coupe de France is an attractive, century-old competition that pleases spectators.
We will take it as a final and the objective is to beat Nice.
“In Ligue 1, the coaches offer extremely interesting things”
Liverpool and Manchester City delivered a Dantesque match this weekend.
When you see this kind of match, do you have the impression that Ligue 1 is far from this level?
Luckily Liverpool are not in the Champions League.
I saw the match of course!
It was a very high level match with two unique coaches.
What I can say is what I think of L1.
Before coaching Paris, I thought it was an easy league but in reality, it is of a very high individual level and the coaches offer extremely interesting things.
You are 10 points ahead in L1 so you can rotate your squad.
Are you going to field your best players on Wednesday for a decisive match in the Coupe de France?
I always try to put the eleven best players for each match but it's not the same thing playing L1 with a 10-point lead.
The closer the end of the season approaches, the more we want to keep every chance of winning titles.
Nice and PSG are teams that take risks to win the match.
Can you tell us the reasons for Marquinhos' withdrawal?
I do not have any additional information in the medical press release.
There is nothing worrying or serious.
In San Sebastián, he could have played with Danilo but I didn't want to take any risks.
Until he is 100%, there is no need to take any risks.
We talked a lot about turnover with Kylian Mbappé.
But other players are concerned, like Ousmane Dembélé who has started two of the last five matches.
What logic does this follow?
In truth, we study every detail for all players and all matches are important.
A match like Wednesday or the Champions League are very high-level matches which require us to present our best face.
Ousmane has no problem.
The best training is competition but we must control playing times, especially for explosive players, who have great speed and can take risks.
This involves making them play more or less.
As someone who has done marathons, do you give any advice to your players in the athletic field?
Without a doubt.
For several months here, there had been 2 draws and you asked if it was a physical problem and I told you no.
I think we are one of the teams that does the most high-intensity races.
It's not so much the general distance, because I can do 15 km without touching the ball, but maintaining high intensity runs.
Me, I have never had any problems as a coach with the physical question, it's more something mental.
It is the entire body that must be understood.
Against Real Sociedad, you put Dembélé back in the middle, can you tell us about that?
In reality it is a very basic concept.
What we had to try was for our best players to touch a lot of balls.
Dembélé is one of them and the majority of teams are used to closing the axis so we go through the side.
Our idea was to generate superiority and find our best players in open spaces.
This prevented Real Sociedad from pressing and creating chances.