PARIS — Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique insisted that no team in Europe could claim to be better than his right now as the French giants prepare for their UEFA Champions League semi-final showdown against Bayern Munich.
“These are the two best teams in Europe, even if Arsenal has also had a great season,” the Spanish coach told reporters on the eve of the semi-final first-leg at the Parc des Princes.
“In terms of consistency, maybe Bayern are a little bit above us. But we have shown that no team is better than us,” he added according to AFP.
PSG is in the semi-finals for a third straight season since Luis Enrique became coach in 2023 and are hoping to claim back-to-back Champions League titles after winning the trophy for the first time last season.
They have reached this stage by defeating Chelsea and Liverpool in the last two rounds.
“It is a real pleasure and it is deserved. You need to be ambitious to get to this stage and I think we are. We still want to go that bit further,” Luis Enrique said.
PSG and Bayern have already met three times since the start of last season: the Germans won 1-0 at home in the league phase in November 2024 and the Parisians triumphed 2-0 in a Club World Cup quarterfinal last July in the United States, but Bayern won 2-1 in Paris in the league phase in November.
There have been concerns in the PSG camp about the fitness of Vitinha after the Portuguese playmaker sat out his team’s last two games due to injury.
However, he was back in training on Monday in a big boost to the defending champions.
“Everyone is ready,” said the coach, who also saw Spanish midfielder Fabian Ruiz make his first start in three months after injury last weekend as PSG beat Angers 3-0 in Ligue 1.
