Paris Saint-Germain manager Luis Enrique has shared his thoughts on how three-time Premier League champion Arsenal might play against PSG in the Champions League semifinals next week.
The French champions, who settled for a 1-1 draw against relegation-threatened Nantes on Tuesday, will face an Arsenal side that impressively eliminated defending champions Real Madrid with a commanding 5-1 aggregate victory in the quarterfinals.
“What version of Arsenal will we see? If Arsenal opens the scoring, it will probably be a low block and we can reuse the same type of actions. But the Arsenal of the early game will surely press us. We will have to adapt and it will depend on the match they put forward,” Enrique said after the Nantes match.
Arsenal displayed flexibility against Real Madrid in their quarterfinal win. Early in the first leg, they pressed aggressively, forcing turnovers high up the pitch that contributed to their 3-0 home victory.
In the return leg at the Bernabeu, after taking the lead through Bukayo Saka, Arsenal showed discipline in a more defensive shape.
What PSG boss Luis Enrique said about Nantes performance?
When addressing the Nantes performance, Enrique had been critical of his team’s approach: “I think that in the first 30 minutes, we lacked a lot of movement without the ball. When you attack a low block, there is no space and you have to create it through movement. We played too much with the feet when we should have looked for depth.”
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PSG have clinched the Ligue 1 title. They’ve also set a new European record of 39 away league games without defeat which surpasses AC Milan’s run from 1991-1993 and will now focus on Arsenal who under Mikel Arteta, have made it to their first Champions League semifinal since 2009.
Back then, they lost to Manchester United. The London team’s only other semifinal was in 2006. They went on to face Barcelona in the final.
On the other hand, PSG has never won the Champions League and has come close in 2020 losing the final to Bayern Munich. In recent years, they’ve often stumbled in the quarterfinals or round of 16.
The first leg will be played at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium on April 29, with the return leg in Paris on May 7. The winner will face either Barcelona or Inter Milan in the final scheduled for May 31 in Munich.
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