Already champion and deprived of an invincibility record, Paris SG travels on Saturday in Ligue 1 in Strasbourg (5 p.m.) with the sole mission to manage the workforce and its recovery before the return match against Arsenal on Wednesday in the Champions League. If the defeat against Nice (3-1), last week at the 31ste Day, will have a profit, it is to allow the men of Luis Enrique not to put too much pressure on the Meinau on Saturday, and above all to focus on the Queen competition.
Until then, the coach had summoned the need to beat Nantes’ invincibility record (32 matches without defeat) to “mark history” and keep his troops awake. His series stopped at 30 at the Parc des Princes. This was not a bad omen before the semi-final go to the Champions League since four days later, PSG surprised Arsenal to the Emirates Stadium (1-0). The club is at the gates of a second historic final, after that lost against Bayern Munich in 2020 (1-0).
“Each minute must be useful”, judges in
Nevertheless, it is advisable in Paris not to relax on Saturday, since a second loss in a row in the league would make bad kind. PSG has not yet been completely out of its period less well (less intensity, pressing, goals and victories in April), compared to its early 2025 thunderous year. “It’s a slightly strange end of the season, we are already champions but we know that these matches are preparing for other competitions, we have to be useful for the Champions League and the French Cup”, of which Paris will play the final against Reims on May 24, “said Luis Enrique on Friday.
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“We are in a moment of the extremely important season,” said Luis Enrique on Friday. “It’s the best time of the season, and the team shows envy,” he added. It will be necessary despite the lack of accounting stake against Strasbourg (7eequal points with Lyon and Nice), one of the best Ligue 1 teams on the return phase. Since December, the Strasbourgers have lost only one meeting (Rennes, 1-0 in February) in 18 matches and remain on a series of eleven meetings without defeat (8 victory and 3 draws) after their solid success (3-1) against Saint-Etienne last Saturday.
Dembélé at rest
“They score goals, they defend well, it is one of the best teams in the championship, it will not be easy,” anticipated Luis Enrique. “We are used to such a tight calendar, we want to play the final of the Champions League, but there is this return match, there is not much time to rest,” said the Spaniard.
Rest, Ousmane Dembélé will need it. The best player this PSG season – and one of the most prolific scorers in Europe in recent months – has been wounded against Arsenal. The club said on Friday that it suffered from a “muscle stretch of the hamstrings of the right thigh”, but that its situation “evolved favorably”. Hope is therefore in order for his presence against the London club, but “he will not play tomorrow,” warned Luis Enrique.
