Luis Enrique has warned Paris St Germain to prepare for a Newcastle onslaught as the sides go head-to-head in Champions League Group F on Tuesday night.
Enrique put the finishing touches to his plan to gain revenge for his side’s 4-1 defeat at St James’ Park in October at a rain-soaked Poissy on Monday morning having paid keen attention to the Magpies’ Premier League demolition of Chelsea.
Eddie Howe’s men were missing 13 senior players on Saturday but still surged to a 4-1 win with a display which impressed the PSG boss.
Luis Enrique: “The objective is always the same for us: to play a complete match in attack and defence. |
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English)
Enrique said: “If you saw the last match against Chelsea, physically it’s really incredible. Six players are putting on so much pressure, they can pressurise eight players at the same time.
“This intensity in their game and this pressure is something that we need to be prepared for.”
The reigning Ligue 1 champions were soundly beaten on Tyneside as goals from Miguel Almiron, Dan Burn, Sean Longstaff and Fabian Schar threw the group wide open.
However, Enrique’s men go into their penultimate fixture knowing a win could see them through to the knockout stage and while he is understandably wary of Newcastle, that is his focus.
He said: “The competition could be really short, it is a very complicated group and the ranking is really close, as you see.
“It’s true that now every game is decisive, it’s knockout style. Two teams could be qualified already tomorrow night depending on the results, so until the last day, we don’t know.
“I’m sure that my team is ready, though, ready to play, to be competitive on the pitch and that’s what we’ve been proving throughout the entire season.”
PSG have lost only once in all competitions since their horror show at St James’ – at AC Milan in their last European outing – and trounced Monaco 5-2 on Friday evening.
However, Portuguese midfielder Vitinha admits there is a score to settle against the English club.
Vitinha said: “We spoke after that match. We knew it was not a great result for us, of course. That was a very tough game and we know it’s another tough game tomorrow night awaiting us, but we still want to win.
“Maybe we have that little revenge feeling, but that stays inside us. Tomorrow is going to be a show and that we win, that’s the most important thing.
“We know it’s possible to qualify as fast as tomorrow, but we’re just trying to focus on this match and only on this match because the only way for us to qualify is to win, so that is what we are trying to focus on.
“We have to respect what the coach is asking of us and try to do everything to win this match and have a good standing in this group.”
