Paris Saint-Germain manager Luis Enrique confessed his side were more than a little fortunate to beat Tottenham Hotspur in Wednesday’s UEFA Super Cup.
Spurs held a deserved two-goal lead shortly after the half-time break thanks to goals from defensive duo Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, but PSG eventually woke up and forced a penalty shoot-out after an 85th-minute strike from Lee Kang-in was followed up by an equaliser from substitute Gonçalo Ramos in the 94th minute.
Van de Ven and Mathys Tel missed from the spot as PSG got their hands on the trophy, after which Enrique admitted the result was not a fair assessment of the game.
“For 80 minutes we didn’t deserve that, I think Tottenham deserved to win the match because they were in form, they were training for six weeks and they played a great match,” Enrique told TNT Sports.
“We have been training only for six days but sometimes football is unfair. I have to say we were very lucky in the last 10 minutes that we could score two goals.”
The game was the competitive debut of new Spurs manager Thomas Frank, who refused to get down about the result and instead opted to shower his squad with praise for their efforts.
“Very, very proud of the players, the team, the club, the fans,” he said. “I think the players gave everything against one of the best teams in the world, maybe the best. I think for 75 to 80 minutes we were perfect, almost giving nothing away.
“It was a special operation. In medical terms the operation succeeded but the patient died, so not that good in the end. But we worked on a gameplan that was a little bit different and very close to succeeding.”
“We showed that we can be adaptable and pragmatic, and we needed to be against a team like PSG. The way we wanted to defend, high pressure and low defending, was top, almost perfect, and also the set pieces were very good and dangerous.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘Very Lucky’—Luis Enrique Reacts to PSG Turning Tottenham Super Cup Clash Around.
