Having clinched all three domestic titles along with Champions League glory, boss Luis Enrique believes French giants are primed to repeat history, beginning with tonight’s clash against Europa League-winners Tottenham Hotspur
PSG’s star forward Desire Doue during a training session on Monday ahead of their Super Cup clash against Tottenham Hotspur. Pic Courtesy: PSG.FR
Paris Saint-Germain manager Luis Enrique believes his team is well-equipped to win every title they play for once again, and this has given them ‘special motivation’ ahead of their Super Cup encounter against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday at the Stadio Friuli in Udine, Italy.
Historic season
Coming off the back of a historic season, where they won their maiden UEFA Champions League title — thrashing Inter Milan 5-0 — along with a clean sweep of domestic silverware (Ligue 1, French Cup and French Supercup), Enrique sounded out an ominous warning to Thomas Frank’s team.
Luis Enrique
“I think we’ll improve as a team, both in attack and defence. I believe we can still get better in certain phases of the game,” said the Spanish coach.
“In terms of titles, we are ready to go for all of them. We believe that we can win all of them and repeat last year’s feat again, which would mean going down in history in true style, and that gives us special motivation,” he added.
Despite winning regular silverware over the past decade in France, this is only the second time that they have qualified for the Super Cup.
Their only previous Super Cup appearance ended in an embarrassing 2-9 aggregate defeat to Italian giants Juventus in 1997.
However, at the time, PSG were the underdogs, having qualified after winning the now-defunct UEFA Cup Winners’s Cup by beating Austria’s Rapid Wien 1-0.
Donnarumma left out
This time around, they are the undoubted favourites, having swatted aside all and sundry last season. However, they did suffer a shock loss at the Club World Cup final to Chelsea (0-3) in July, and Enrique’s decision to sideline goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma for Wednesday’s game, means all is not perfect in paradise. Newly signed custodian Lucas Chevalier is expected to start in his place, and may represent a chink in their armour.
Meanwhile, their opponents have plenty of questions to answer themselves. Spurs qualified for the one-off match by downing an equally imperfect Manchester United side 1-0 in the Europa League final.
Spurs in transition
However, much has changed for the north London outfit since then. Their title-winning coach, Ange Postecoglou, was sacked soon after, paying the price for a dismal English Premier League campaign where they finished 17th.
Their captain and star forward Son Heung-Min has also moved to the MLS with Los Angeles FC, leaving new boss Thomas Frank with plenty of quandaries regarding the make-up of his attack that also lacks the injured play-maker James Maddison. Only time will tell if they can beat the odds in their maiden Super Cup appearance.
Last 5 Cup results
2-0
2024: Real Madrid beat Atalanta
6-5
2023: Man City 1-1 Sevilla; City won 5-4 on penalties
2-0
2022: Real Madrid beat Eintracht Frankfurt
7-6
2021: Chelsea 1-1 Villarreal; Chelsea won 6-5 on penalties
2-1
2020: Bayern beat Sevilla
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