Champions League 2024-25: Luis Enrique blames PSG’s loss to Atletico on bad luck

PSG had a handful of clear chances through Achraf Hakimi, Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembele but, with no pure lone forward, were unable to convert.

Paris St Germain coach Luis Enrique. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Paris St Germain coach Luis Enrique blamed his team’s 2-1 defeat at home to Atletico Madrid on bad luck, admitting his side’s chances was in danger as it plunged into the red zone of the Champions League group phase on Wednesday.

PSG applied its usual possession pattern but was again pretty much toothless in attack, owing Warren Zaire Emery’s opener to a defensive blunder.

Nahuel Molina equalised quickly and Atletico’s resilience paid off three minutes into injury time thanks to second-half substitute Angel Correa’s goal at the end of a counter attack -- a scenario that Enrique labelled a ‘bad joke’ at the end of a ‘shitty day’.

PSG had a handful of clear chances through Achraf Hakimi, Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembele but, with no pure lone forward, were unable to convert.

“There are no words. I think that in our three home games, we were highly superior to our opponents but we did not have any luck,” Enrique said.

READ | Champions League 2024-25: Correa scores late winner for Atletico as PSG’s UCL woes continue

“As long as there are matches, we will fight,” he added, before PSG travels to Bayern Munich on Nov. 26.

PSG is 25th in the 36-team league, just in the elimination zone, midway through the group phase.

“I’ve been in the game for over 30 years and I can’t explain it. It’s just bad luck. We were infinitely superior to our opponents,” said Enrique.

“We would have deserved to win our three home games. Comfortably.”

Asked if PSG’s chances to go through the league phase was in danger, he said: “Undoubtedly.

“We created 50 chances in three games and we failed to convert so many of them... we need 20 clear chances to score and our opponents sneeze and they score... it sounds like a bad joke,” he said.

“Creating chances is the team’s responsibility and I’m responsible for the team, so I’m responsible for the results. If I fail, I will fail with my ideas. We’re on the right path.”

His Atletico counterpart Diego Simeone praised his team for their performance despite injuries in defence.

“Today we were missing five players in defence,” he said after a result that put it on six points, above the elimination zone.

“Despite these absences, the team were strong; we conceded the goal on a mistake but we continued to play.”