Paris St Germain coach Luis Enrique believes the timing is perfect for their Champions League semi-final against Borussia Dortmund.
Enrique’s side have travelled to Germany for Wednesday’s first leg having been crowned as French champions at the weekend, and with a place in the Coupe de France final against Lyon booked.
The Champions League remains the missing piece for the capital club, and this could be their best chance of securing it before Kylian Mbappe moves on in the summer.
“We are trying to keep improving and it is just the start of the project,” Enrique said. “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.
“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.”
These two sides have already met in this competition this season, having both come through the so-called ‘Group of Death’ that also included AC Milan and Newcastle last year.
PSG beat Dortmund 2-0 in the French capital but the match in Germany ended in a 1-1 draw.
However, Portuguese striker Goncalo Ramos believes the side have improved since then.
“I think we are more of a team than in the last game against them because we have had more time to work, more time to know each other,” he said.
“There were a lot of new players into the club before this season who had never played together but now it is more like a family. When we played here before we didn’t have a whole team healthy and now we have everything.”
Presnel Kimpembe and Sergio Rico are the only absentees in the PSG squad.
PSG are favourites for the tie, and Dortmund coach Edin Terzic admitted his side need to capitalise on home advantage in the first leg if they want a good chance of making it to Wembley.
“We want to create two close games,” Terzic said. “We have the opportunity to get a good result with home advantage. We want to establish a small advantage for ourselves that will improve our situation in Paris.
“We need to perform for 180 minutes at the highest level in order to achieve our big dream of reaching the final. First in Dortmund and then in Paris next week.”
Terzic will be without both Ramy Bensebaini and Julien Duranville, while he must check on Marcel Sabitzer after illness, with Donyell Malen and Sebastien Haller also doubtful as they recover from recent injuries – although the coach said he expected both to be available.
“We will develop a plan that aims to hurt them,” he added. “If we press them high and inject tempo into our play, we’ll also manage to create goalscoring chances against Paris. That’s the clear mission.
“They will be two close games. The good thing about close games is: you can win them.”
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
