Luis Enrique says quadruple the motivation as Paris Saint-Germain chase history with Dortmund on horizon - 'Of course'
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Published 30/04/2024 at 19:13 GMT
Paris Saint-Germain are bidding for a quadruple this season having already won the Ligue 1 title and the Trophee des Champion with the Coupe de France final still to play. On Wednesday, May 1, PSG will lock horns with Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final and Luis Enrique admits his side is motivated by the prospect of winning four trophies this season.
Stopping Mbappe key to Dortmund realising ‘dream’, say Terzic and Can
Paris Saint-Germain boss Luis Enrique admits his side are motivated by winning a quadruple this season.
PSG were recently crowned Ligue 1 champions and will face Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final in Germany on May 1, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
They have already won the Trophee des Champion and face Lyon in the Coupe de France final on May 25.
Speaking about how their success measures up to the expectations of the board, Enrique said: “We are trying to keep improving and it is just the start of the project.
“We have gradually improved our performance levels and now there is one month left until the end of the season, and we are alive in every competition."
On his club’s eagerness to win the Champions League, he said: “This is the biggest competition in all of Europe with four teams left all capable of reaching the final, so we need to manage our emotions, manage the pressure and play well.
"But we should not be threatened by that pressure. I think we head into it at the perfect stage of our season.”
In terms of ending the season as quadruple winners, Enrique has no qualms with admitting he wants to achieve something special.
"The quadruple? Of course we talk about it. It's a motivation.
"It is a way of writing the club's history and the city's history. But most important is not what we win but how we win, how we play."
Terzic: Dortmund have the 'greatest hunger'
Meanwhile, Edin Terzic believes that PSG's "main objective for a decade" has been to win Europe's top competitions.
Terzic’s charges have already matched up to Luis Enrique’s French champions this season - with both clubs coming through the competition’s ‘Group of Death’, which saw AC Milan and Newcastle exit at the group stages.
The sides drew 1-1 in Dortmund and PSG came out 2-0 winners in Paris but it was Die Schwarzgelben who topped Group F.
So, Dortmund must stop PSG’s runaway trophy train if they are to write the next chapter in their own history by making it to a third Champions League final.
To reach the semi-finals, Dortmund have got past PSV Eindhoven and Atletico Madrid in the knockout stages and Terzic hopes his team continues to go against the odds in order to move a step closer to lifting European football’s most prized possession.
"Were we the favourites in the group? Against Atletico Madrid? I don't know,” he said.
"Maybe we're the team with less experience, but we may have the greatest hunger.
"When everyone digs in, not just those on the field and on the bench but everyone in the stadium, we've got a huge opportunity – and we need to take it."
Terzic says Marcel Sabitzer and Sebastien Haller are fit to play - but on the opposing side he admits Dortmund have more to worry about than only Kylian Mbappe.
“It’s not easy to stop them, though every team tries,” Terzic said. “If you take Kylian Mbappe, for example, with his exceptional individual quality, he has now scored 43 goals in 44 games. Opponents set themselves the goal of not letting him score in 44 games. It doesn’t always work.”
"It’s not just about Mbappe."
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