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Luis Enrique defends 4-2-4 tactics in PSG’s crushing 4-1 Champions League defeat at Newcastle & claims final score.
Newcastle defeated Paris Saint-Germain 4-1 in the Champions League, and Luis Enrique has defended his strategy despite criticism of the 4-2-4 formation.
PSG chose to hold back their desire while paid a midweek visit to England, even though they traveled to St James’ Park with a raucous home crowd eager to support the Magpies.
Ousmane Dembele, Randal Kolo Muani, Goncalo Ramos, and Kylian Mbappe were all starters for Luis Enrique’s attack-oriented lineup.
PSG paid for their ambition by being exposed at the back, and Newcastle had a dream matchup with the Ligue 1 champions. Within 50 minutes, they had three goals, and at times, they had no trouble cutting apart the visitors.
Despite that, Enrique told Canal+ afterwards when discussing his tactics and the final outcome: “I thought it was for the best, and I still do. Those are difficult games to live through for a manager. I sincerely think the result is a bit unfair, but not totally. Congratulations to Newcastle, they played very good football. They were effective in the last part of the pitch and we made some mistakes, it is hard to accept that.
If you make mistakes you pay for that. Their press worked. We tried to put in front of their goal as many chances as possible but we weren’t so effective in the last part of the pitch. But the scoreline is excessive. The result is so big for them. But I think we didn’t deserve that result.”
When asked about the decision to deploy four forwards, Lucas Hernandez said that it was “the manager’s choice,” however he later acknowledged that it “did not work.”
Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan are the other teams in Group F, and both PSG and Newcastle are still vying for a spot in the round of 16.