{"id":31964,"date":"2026-04-15T14:47:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T12:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=31964"},"modified":"2026-04-15T14:47:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T12:47:00","slug":"psg-boss-credits-teams-belief-for-champions-league-success","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/psg-boss-credits-teams-belief-for-champions-league-success\/","title":{"rendered":"PSG boss credits team\u2019s belief for Champions League success"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\" data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\">Paris St Germain showed why they are the reigning champions of Europe, coach Luis Enrique said, after his side completed a commanding 4-0 aggregate \u200bvictory over Liverpool on Tuesday to reach the Champions League semi-finals.<\/div>\n<div id=\"x_ms-outlook-mobile-signature\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>PSG were pushed \u200cfor spells at Anfield, particularly in the second half, but Ousmane Dembele struck twice after the break as Luis Enrique\u2019s men won 2-0 to again demonstrate the belief and resilience that are hallmarks of their European campaign.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>Luis \u200bEnrique said defending the trophy remained one of football\u2019s toughest challenges, but that \u200bhis team had earned the right to compete among Europe\u2019s elite once \u2060more.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to defend the Champions League, we know that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we\u2019re here again \u200band we need to make the most of these opportunities.\u201d<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>Asked whether PSG carry an \u201caura\u201d as holders, \u200bLuis Enrique pointed instead to the confidence and belief within the squad.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>\u201cI don\u2019t know, it\u2019s difficult to judge that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s a real pleasure for me to know my team is at that level \u200band can play at that level no matter who they\u2019re playing against.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>\u201cYou can see what \u200bsort of team we are, we\u2019ve got a lot of belief and a lot of confidence, and the \u200csupporters \u2060express that belief as well.\u201d<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>Luis Enrique said Liverpool\u2019s need to chase the tie after trailing 2-0 from the first leg played into PSG\u2019s hands, even if it took time to fully capitalise.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>\u201cThey had to take a lot of risks and that meant we could load the counter-attack \u200band kill the match \u200boff,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>\u201cIt \u2060took us longer to do that than I would have liked, but as soon as we scored the first goal, that changed things. \u200bI think we managed the match very well.\u201d<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>PSG will face either Real \u200bMadrid or \u2060Bayern Munich, who meet on Wednesday with the Germans leading 2-1, in the semi-finals.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>Asked if he had a preference, Luis Enrique said: \u201cIf I say one team, we\u2019ll end up playing the other \u2060team. I\u2019ll have \u200ba glass in my hand, I\u2019ll be watching the \u200bgame between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, but it doesn\u2019t matter, we deserve to be there and we\u2019re going \u200bto make the most of it with our supporters.\u201d<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\u2014Reuters\u2014<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16119,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-31964","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"PSG were pushed \u200cfor spells at Anfield, particularly in the second half.","published_date":"","news_description":"PSG were pushed \u200cfor spells at Anfield, particularly in the second half.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31965,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31964\/revisions\/31965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=31964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}