"I know where I am; the day we lose will be a disaster"

FC Barcelona coach Luis Enrique looked ahead to tomorrow’s Champions League MatchDay 2 meeting with Paris Saint-Germain, telling reporters that, with Ibrahimovic on the pitch or not, the French side still pose a threat.

Laurent Blanc has confirmed that Ibrahimovic won’t play tomorrow: “We won’t be changing our line-up plans for the fact that he won’t be playing. He is an important loss for them, he would be for any side but we won’t be changing our plans. With him or without him, PSG are still a very dangerous side – one with a lot of resources”.

Will you be sticking with Ter Stegen in the Champions League, or will you, as usual, not make public your plans for the goalkeeper’s position? “You have just answered your own question...”

Blanc insists that his side won’t be sitting back... “I’m sure I did watch the game from a couple of seasons ago but I can’t remember too much about it. From what I do know about PSG, I know that they can play man-for-man perfectly well. What I am expecting them to do tomorrow? Any coach will tell you not to pay much attention to what is said by our fellow colleagues prior to the game. PSG are aspirants to win the Champions League. However they play tomorrow, we have to respond – whether they pressurize us or sit back and wait for us”.

Statement of intent: “We are motivated by the rival we will be facing and the venue. Winning away from home is always attractive – and important. We are just going to focus on being the better team, we’ll see if we can do that”.

Zero goals conceded in spite of the changes at the back... “Our defence has been performing well and have shown that they can play against anyone. I’ve very lucky in that regard. But I know that the day we lose will be a disaster and I will be blamed for the rotations. I know what it means to be Barça’s coach but I will continue doing what I believe to be right. All of the solutions are related to the objectives we have set ourselves. We can’t win the league now so that isn’t our main objective – to continue improving so that we are contenders is our objective”.

Pressurizing opponents: “Applying pressure is like the Guadiana River, it’s like a river which ebbs and flows – it comes and goes. The team has been doing well in that aspect up until now”.

Motivating the squad: “Games like this are very easy for the players; they don’t need much motivation – it’s already high. Our only concern is being superior to our rivals. We want to bring out our players’ virtues from defence to attack and show that we are the better side”.

Messi: “He keeps showing us what a tremendous player he is. He will continue to be decisive for us in every sense. He is the No.1 in the majority of the aspects to our game”.

Topping the group: “It’s a priority for us but we must wait to see how things unfold. To win here in Paris we will need to show our best side. Every aspect of our game has to be right. What we cannot control we will leave to one side, and focus on the nearest game we have to play”.

from Últimas noticias | Diario AS http://as.com/diarioas/2014/09/29/english/1412013605_916574.html

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