Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) head coach Luis Enrique has spoken about how the exit of Kylian Mbappe from the club helped them as a team.
The French champions are two games away from a first-ever treble after eliminating Arsenal by a 3-1 aggregate scoreline to reach the Champions League final.
Speaking after the game, former Spain and Barcelona manager Enrique pointed out that he believes his team is better now than it was when Mbappe played there.
He spoke about how his players took Mbappe’s departure as a challenge and stepped up as a unit, producing better than he would have.
“I think I was very brave last season when I said that we were going to have a better team without Mbappé. I still think we are better, the stats are there.
“Mbappé’s departure was a shame, but the players took it as a challenge. I would have loved to continue with Mbappé, but I think the players are responding at a high level… I’d rather have 4 players who score 12 goals each than 1 player who scores 40 goals.”
KyMbappe left the French capital last summer in favour of completing a dream move to Real Madrid. His Real Madrid switch has not worked out as well as he’d hoped, as Los Blancos were dumped out of the Champions League at the quarterfinal stage.
Since Mbappe’s exit, the likes of Ousmane Dembele, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Desire Doue, and Bradley Barcola have provided the goods.
Dembele provided an assist in the 2-1 second leg win over Arsenal to set a new club record for goal contributions in a single Champions League campaign, eclipsing Mbappe’s record.
Thr Parisiens would hope to be second time lucky in the UEFA Champions League final.
In their first appearance in the final in 2020, a Kingsley Coman header earned Bayern Munich a 1-0 win.