Luis Enrique urges PSG to use shock Coupe de France exit as motivation

  /  autty

Luis Enrique hopes that Paris Saint-Germain's shock early exit from the Coupe de France will serve as motivation for his team for the rest of the season. 

Jonathan Ikone scored the only goal as Paris FC emerged 1-0 victors at Parc des Princes, with PSG falling before the round of 16 for just the second time in the last 20 years.

However, the Parisiens are still well-placed to continue their success from the 2024-25 campaign, with their next match seeing them take on Lille in Ligue 1 on Friday.

PSG sit second in the table, but know a win will see them leapfrog leaders Lens, who face Auxerre 24 hours later, and could establish their one-point advantage. 

And ahead of the meeting with their fourth-placed opponents, Luis Enrique urged his team to deliver a statement to reaffirm their commitment to competing on all fronts this term. 

"After a defeat, everyone wants to get going again. We analysed the game," Luis Enrique told reporters.

"We know we did everything to win against Paris, but sometimes you come up against a goalkeeper that stops everything. That's what football is like, but you have to keep going.

"We're playing on Friday against one of the best teams in the league, it's up to us to put in the necessary ingredients.

"It's important to know that we deserved to win the game. Clearly. We lost it, we accept the result, and we wished PFC good luck for the rest of the competition.

"But I hope it'll serve as motivation for us to give even more in the league and the Champions League."

Lille will, however, provide a stern test for PSG. Bruno Genesio's side have won seven of their last 10 Ligue 1 matches and are eying a return to the Champions League. 

Their last league meeting came back in October, with Ethan Mbappe, the brother of former PSG star Kylian, scoring an 85th-minute equaliser to clinch a 1-1 draw. 

"When we looked at Lille, we saw they do a lot of good things with and without the ball. There is a lot of quality," Luis Enrique added. 

"We'll be at home, it'll be a good test to see how we handle things after losing. We hope we'll put in a good performance.

"We're playing a big team after a loss, and we know it'll be a tough match, it always has been every time we have played them.

"We want to win to keep moving forward in the league."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

PSG – Nuno Mendes

Nuno Mendes scored PSG's only goal in the reverse fixture, and he could prove to be key to his team's chances of victory here. 

Indeed, he is the defender with the highest averages for shots (2.2), shots on target (1.1), touches in the opposition box (3.4), and goal involvements (0.6) per 90 minutes in Ligue 1 this season (minimum 400 minutes played).

Lille – Hakon Haraldsson

Should Lille have a chance of getting a result against PSG, Hakon Haraldsson will be key, given he has created more chances (26) in Ligue 1 than any other player for Lille. 

He has also registered six goal involvements (five goals, one assist), a total only bettered by Felix Correia's seven. 

Related: Paris Saint-Germain Lille Luis Enrique Nuno Mendes Hákon Arnar Haraldsson
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