Luis Enrique is aiming to win the Champions League for the second consecutive season, but he faces a formidable opponent in Premier League champions Arsenal.
Luis Enrique (Image: Getty Images)
Luis Enrique has claimed that Paris Saint-Germain have an “even stronger” motivation to win the Champions League. PSG are aiming to become the second team in the modern era to hold trophies after Real Madrid, while Arsenal are aiming for their first title.
But Enrique says the chance to make history is more important to him than Mikel Arteta’s motivation to lead Arsenal to glory for the first time. When asked how strong was the motivation for PSG to win their first championship, Enrique said:
“We have already gone down in history as one of the best teams in the world and in Europe and that is what we are looking for tomorrow.
“I don’t think there’s any greater motivation than winning the Champions League. The rest is just strategy, but tomorrow we’ll see who is better and who won. We both won our respective leagues and I’m going to focus on what’s good for my team.”
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However, Enrique insisted the final was evenly balanced at 50-50, despite PSG being the reigning champions who beat Inter Milan last year. However, Enrique is expecting a different challenge from Arsenal, although he ruled out the idea of being an attacker against Arteta’s defence.
“We talk about finals, but finals are always different. Last year was special and I think we dominated Inter, but I don’t think there will be any favorites in tomorrow’s final and, to be honest, the devil is in the details for us and it will be a very close call,” Enrique said.
“We have to give our all, but we also have to enjoy those 90 minutes. There’s always tension, but the important thing is to know how to deal with that stress. What I mean is not just two different ideas, but two ideas that are the same, similar and different.”
“Arsenal are a good scoring team and we are also a good defensive team. We are trying to reach the same destination. We have just taken two different paths.”
“I’m not really surprised by what Arteta has achieved this year. They absolutely deserved to win the Premier League. They were the best team and the most consistent.”
“It wasn’t always easy for Manchester City to catch up, but they deserved to win the title. Arteta has been with the team for six-and-a-half years, so he knows the team very well and he knows the team inside out.”
“We know them well, we played against them last year and the year before. There are always things you can tweak. It’s important to enjoy it too. But in the final, you don’t know when you’re going to be back, so you have to make the most of it.”
Enrique also said that both full-backs were fit to start against Arsenal, significantly improving the team’s fitness. Enrique added: “They can play tomorrow.”
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