CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Dugarry on PSG boss: “Luis Enrique has a disproportionately big ego”
Newcastle’s win over PSG in the Champions League is causing a wave of criticism in France with coach Luis Enrique coming under fire.
Luis Enrique’s PSG are struggling on all fronts, the Parisians are fifth in Ligue 1 and are coming off the back of a humbling 4-1 defeat at the hand of Newcastle United earlier this week in the Champions League.
The Spanish coach arrived in the French capital in the summer with the firm intention of building a team around Kylian Mbappé, which would enable the side to play an attractive brand of football and win games. Two months after the start of the competition, the Asturian is now creating a wave of doubt and starting to draw criticism relating to his approach to PSG.
The defeat in Newcastle has seen the anger levels increase with former FC Barcelona teammate Christophe Dugarry the latest high profile personality to wade in: “Luis Enrique made mistakes. I know him very well from when we were both at Barcelona (1997/98 season) and he is a person with an enormous sense of pride but he has an excessive ego and I guarantee it will stay that way. He will impose his ideas and die with them,” said the former French soccer player speaking to RMC.
The former Barça teammate also feels that PSG underestimated a Newcastle United side who are back in the Champions League group stage for the first time in twenty years. “The coach thought Newcastle were rubbish” claims Dugarry.
The former France international also maintains that this will be a complicated year for the Parc des Princes side after the departure of key players, feeling that their replacements are not world class players: “You are the coach of Newcastle and you see the PSG that had a summer in which they lost Messi, Neymar... They bought good players, but not stars.”
“Luis Enrique only has one way to turn the situation around, play well and win to convince his critics. The Champions League will mark the future of the Spanish coach... and Mbappé”, concluded the 51-year-old.