LIGUE 1
PSG coach Luis Enrique criticised for attitude towards media: “He has a look of hatred on his face”
The former Barcelona boss has endured a tough start to life in Paris but saw Kylian Mbappé and Co win at Rennes on Sunday.
Luis Enrique hasn’t enjoyed the best of starts as head coach of Paris Saint-Germain, but their 3-1 win away to Rennes on Sunday was a much needed a shot in the arm for the Ligue 1 champions, who are now third in the French top flight, two points behind leaders Monaco. Despite his team’s victory, however, the Spaniard, who has never been overly enamoured with the media, was involved in a rather awkward post-match interview.
Following the triumph in Brittany, the PSG boss spoke to French broadcaster Free Ligue 1, who normally interview players and coaches on the field after full time. And Luis Enrique didn’t take especially kindly to journalist Alexandre Ruiz’s line of questioning, which he accused of being overly negative. “You only ever talk about negative things, don’t you? It’s incredible. In every interview. You’re the most negative guy in the history of soccer. One day we won 4-1 and you told me we deserved to lose.”
Luis Enrique “just wants to get up and leave” in interviews
Speaking on After Foot on French radio station RMC Sport, journalist Daniel Riolo was fiercely critical of the former Barcelona boss’ attitude towards the press, claiming him to “have a look of hatred on his face” and that “he just wants to get up and leave” when speaking to reporters.
“If he carries on like this, he’ll have to win a lot of games for us to not care about the way he is. If PSG win, there won’t be a problem, the fans will say, ‘we don’t give a damn about having a coach who doesn’t want to share his emotions with us, tell us how he feels or how he wants to build his team.’ It’s always the same thing, we’ve always heard he doesn’t talk to journalists.”
PSG coach “painful to listen to”
Riolo has a long history of taking aim at players and coaches but claimed that Luis Enrique isn’t doing himself any favours with anyone, including his own supporters.
“I can’t understand having that kind of attitude in 2023. Nowadays, all coaches talk, we’ve always said how much we like it when Sampaoli, Bielsa and Mourinho tell us things. There are lots of coaches who talk. It’s a bit silly. You can see he has a look of hatred on his face, he just wants to get up and leave. It’s painful to listen to. When PSG have hired coaches in the past, the way they communicated was always important to them. I don’t know what score they would’ve given him for that, but it can’t have been very high”, Riolo stated.