Luis Enrique wins time and loses credit

The bottle of PSG It’s half full or half empty depending on how you look at it. The penalty in the last minute that allowed them to draw against Newcastle gives oxygen to the project Luis Enriquebut, whatever happened in a fortnight, the Spanish coach lost his credit in the double confrontation with the English.

The feeling of relief that flooded in Princes Park when Kylian Mbappé marked the maximum punishment inflicted by Ousmane Dembele and that’s the polish Szymon Marciniak He just whistled when he saw it in slow motion VARdisappears over time.

He PSG They dominated, especially in the second half, created chances and did not lose confidence until the end. But the truth is that he is against the ropes, with water up to his neck in a game where more than one sees too much rigidity in the referee’s decision.

Against the seventh in the English league, a team that came out of Paris full of casualties and with bad balance far from Saint James Parkthe band of Mbappe He was saved by the bell and, in a minute, now the crisis will be of stratospheric proportions.

In a team just where Europe account, the face of the president Nasser Al Khalaefi with only a few minutes left he summed up the moral state of the city well: shock could be read in his eyes.

The Qatari president returned to the stadium after knee surgery and shared a box with the president of UEFA, Aleksander Ceferinwith whom the relationship has been continuous since PSG against the project Super League promoted by other big European clubs.

At the last stretch, he left the box and, standing, saw how Mbappe He earned the tie and put his team’s fate back in the hands of Europe.

Until that moment, Al Khelaifi He saw how his team showed a more willing way to beat the young English squad who, if in the first half created difficulties for them and scored a goal through Alexander Isaac after bad clearance Gianluigi Donnarummain the second he did nothing but hold back the English storm.

It’s okay that they created chances, that they didn’t lower their weapons, that was the goal Nick Pope He is the hero of the guests. But PSG He showed defensive inconsistency, a lack of creativity in midfield and a rushed and feverish attack that was based more on the quality of his players than a defined strategy.

Mbappe He was quick to assure the media that you can’t miss too many opportunities, but the French star didn’t hide the team’s other problems.

At the gates of Princes Park The feeling of the fans is twofold: they narrowly avoided the cliff, but the proposal of Paris does not seem to be enough to face rivals more important than Newcastle.

The complexes are back

Complexes have resurfaced in a team that has seen some of the best players in the world parade in its locker room and now seems to be completely in the hands of Mbappe.

The multimillion-dollar project added only 7 points in 5 European games. It is true that this is the group of death, but none of the rivals have the financial weight of the French.

“Against him city or the Madridthey would have crushed us,” summarized Philippe, a member of the team who, however, did not hide his confidence in qualifying for the round of 16.

Luis Enrique He had the opportunity to return the classification to his stadium, where his team has been strong, and now he has to find it in Signal Iduna Park In front of a Borussia already classified, but who will win the first place?

Far from Paristhe French team is less convincing, having accumulated two defeats in this edition of Champions League and they need to improve in that chapter to avoid the first group stage eliminator since the Qatari landed twelve years ago.

Only success guarantees them to advance. The tie will make them depend on Newcastle don’t force yourself on him Milan in their stadium and, even if they lose, they can go through if the other two members of the group tie.

Luis Enrique He got the time he needed to use to restore a credit that had been tarnished since his resounding defeat Saint James Park at the beginning of October.

Since then, they have strung together six victories, scored 20 goals and conceded just two, lifting them to the top of their league and leaving them in a good position in Europe. A balance maintained by a controversial hand at the last minute and waiting for a favorable result in Dortmund.