DPA
Paris
Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique is counting on the famously intimidating Parc des Princes crowd to help his side overcome Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday and reach the Champions League final.
PSG trail the Germans 1-0 but the Spaniard is still confident the French champions can reach the final at Wembley on June 1 against Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, who play on Wednesday.
“I think the fans will have a crucial role and we have the absolute guarantee that our fans will be behind us, as they have been all season long, and also when we really needed them,” the coach told a news conference on Monday.
“I expect the atmosphere that we all know at the Parc des Princes, and I hope we’ll be able to celebrate qualification with them.” PSG lost in the Champions League final to Bayern in 2020.
“My team has responded in an extraordinary way since the start of the season. A coach is a leader who has to generate confidence in his players, and I have confidence in my team,” added Luis Enrique, who won the Champions League as Barcelona coach in 2015.
“You always have to be prepared that things don’t go well and be ready to turn things round. In whichever situation we find ourselves, I’m convinced my team will fight.”
PSG top scorer Kylian Mbappe hit the post in last week’s first leg but was otherwise quiet by his standards. The coach is ready for the likes of Mbappe to thrive this time.
“Dortmund will press high, so there will be space between the lines. We want to use our best players in the areas where they are dangerous,” Luis Enrique added.
“We can score two goals in a couple of minutes, just as we can concede them too. If we concede a goal, it’s not a problem. We have to stay calm.”
‘We will run 20km more’ - Dortmund’s Terzic
Borussia Dortmund coach Edin Terzic said his side could give even more than last week’s 1-0 first-leg win when they visit Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday in their Champions League semi-final second leg.
The Black and Yellows ran almost 10 kilometres more than the French side at home, with Niclas Füllkrug’s strike making the difference.
Despite the lead, Dortmund are arguably still the underdogs in the contest but that suits the coach just fine.
“The Paris Saint-Germain project has been built to win this title. That’s their mission. But we have a huge dream - and we want to fulfil it. If necessary, we will run 20km more. If it had been about the favourites, we wouldn’t be here today,” Terzic told reporters.
PSG won 2-0 when the sides met in Paris in the group stage in September, but Terzic said his 1997 European Cup winners had grown as a side since then.
“We hadn’t really found ourselves yet. We lacked courage in many areas. In the two games in Dortmund, we then showed that we can play very differently against PSG,” he said.
Dortmund defender Mats Hummels wants to stop PSG star’s Kylian Mbappe.
“You can only defend him as a team. With the inimitable pace he has, he can’t be defended on his own. But he’s only one part of the whole, you have to watch out for many others too,” the veteran said.
Dortmund go into the game without any new personnel worries.
With the exception of long-term injury victims Ramy Bensebaini and Julien Duranville, as well as 18-year-old Kjell Wätjen who will join after finishing a school exam, Dortmund’s full squad departed for France.
Striker Sebastien Haller, who was missing from the 5-1 weekend win over Augsburg where Wätjen impressed as part of a 10-player rotation, is an option again.
Dortmund are eyeing a first final since 2013, when they lost to arch-rivals Bayern Munich. A repeat, on the same Wembley pitch, is possible given Bayern visit Real Madrid with the score at 2-2 on Wednesday.
“We have a lot of courage, which we need. But also a lot of anticipation and optimism - and tension, that’s part of it,” Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl told reporters.
“We created a good basis in the first leg to keep this dream of Wembley alive.”
