When Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain clash on Tuesday night at Emirates Stadium, it will be a showdown between two Spanish tacticians. Nonetheless, for Mikel Arteta, it’s a great matchup, considering he admires Luis Enrique.
The Gunners enter this match after two consecutive wins last week, victories against Bolton Wanderers and Leicester City. It will be interesting to see if they can take advantage of a squad without Dembélé.
On the other hand, the Parisians are coming off a win over Stade Rennais. Both squads are riding positive momentum, so it will be an interesting chess match between these two Spaniards to see which one comes out on top. Regardless, Arteta will be relishing this matchup.
“A smile on my face,” Enrique said. “I am a huge admirer of Luis Enrique, an unbelievable personality. He’s got a huge charisma, a huge energy, very supportive of the young players always. And what I love about him is whenever he’s been, as a player or manager his fingerprints are all over it, you know you can sense that that’s his team.”
“You can see now PSG, that’s Enrique’s team with the way the players behave, the way they want to attack, dominate games. The spirit, the energy they have, Enrique has this unbelievable power, he’s done it at all the clubs he’s been at. His approach to his life and also profession, it’s something really to look upon at, and I learn a lot from him.
“He’s straightforward, he looks you in the eye and tells you what he thinks, and in the end, players appreciate that you might like it more or less depending on how it happens. But the way everybody talks of Enrique, I have 2-3 players here in my club that have played under Enrique in the national team and they always say the same thing and they all enjoy playing under him.”
Mikel Arteta on Luis Enrique: “A smile on my face. I am a huge admirer of Luis Enrique, an unbelievable personality. He’s got a huge charisma, a huge energy, very supportive of the young players always. And what I love about him is whenever he’s been, as a player or manager his… pic.twitter.com/x00fLIitbe
— PSG Report (@PSG_Report) September 30, 2024
Ahead of their match against the Premier League side on Monday, PSG revealed that manager Luis Enrique has decided to leave Ousmane Dembélé out of the squad for the trip to North London.
It’s a significant setback for PSG’s attack, as Dembélé has been in fine form this season. The 27-year-old has racked up four goals and four assists in seven games across all competitions, making his absence a noticeable loss.
