BIRMINGHAM, England: Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) coach Luis Enrique praised his squad as the best in the world early this morning after they qualified for the Champions League semi-finals with a 5-4 aggregate victory over Aston Villa.
The French champions, who have never won Europe’s elite club competition, will face either Arsenal or Real Madrid for their second semi-final appearance in two years.
Earlier this morning, they lost 3-2 to Aston Villa in the second quarter-final and the English club could have tied the aggregate score at 5-5 or even won it if not for the brilliant action of goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the second half.
“I think we have the best squad in the world, not just the goalkeepers. When you are at a club like PSG, you have a lot of quality players,” Enrique told Amazon Prime TV.
“I think overall for the two games, we deserved to win… I’m very happy because I can offer our fans another qualification to the semi-finals.”
The PSG boss praised Villa’s quality and intensity, which saw them come back from 2-0 down early on Sunday – trailing 5-1 on aggregate – before scoring three goals.
“We started the game in a great way, scoring two impressive goals, trying to take advantage of the open spaces,” he said.
“We can’t forget, this is the Champions League and you have to accept the fact that the opposing team has a lot of quality. Aston Villa played with high intensity in the second half.
“They are not worried about losing because they lost the first game and were crushed in the first half (of the second match).”