PSG coach brushes aside criticism of team spirit

Advertisement Sport PSG coach brushes aside criticism of team spirit Soccer Football - Ligue 1 - Stade Rennes v Paris St Germain - Roazhon Park, Rennes, France - February 13, 2026 Paris St Germain coach Luis Enrique REUTERS/Stephane Mahe 17 Feb 2026 03:23AM Bookmark Bookmark Share WhatsApp Telegram Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Set CNA as your preferred source on Google Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results. Read a summary of this article on FAST. Get bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try. Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST FAST Feb 16 : Paris St Germain coach Luis Enrique on Monday brushed aside criticism from Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele over a lack of team spirit at the Champions League holders ahead of their knockout-round playoff first leg at Monaco on Tuesday.Dembele was critical of his teammates after PSG lost 3-1 at Stade Rennais, calling for unity and for players to stop playing for themselves. Friday's defeat came after a challenging few months in which they failed to finish in the top eight of the Champions League and struggled to dominate Ligue 1 as they have in the past."There's always a lot of noise around PSG, and we have to accept it. That's it,” said Luis Enrique when asked again to respond to Dembele’s criticism at the pre-match press conference. Subscribe to CNA's Recommended Read A single handpicked story that we think you shouldn't miss. Just one a day. This service is not intended for persons residing in the E.U. By clicking subscribe, I agree to receive news updates and promotional material from Mediacorp and Mediacorp’s partners. Loading He had done much the same on Friday after Dembele’s feisty pitch-side television interview.“The defeat (by Rennes) was cruel because if you consider what we created, it was similar to what we did against Marseille when we scored five goals. But we only got one against Rennes,” said the coach.“We would have liked to come to Monaco with a victory, that's true, but it’s the Champions League and we're motivated.”PSG lost 1-0 at Monaco in November. “We can expect a match similar to the one we played, we’re not going to change anything because we're going to try to win this match,” Luis Enrique added.He also dismissed concerns about facing a domestic rival in the Champions League.“It's football, it's the same thing, you have to try to do the same thing to win the match. What I hope is to see the best version of PSG.“We started the Champions League last season with the same lack of efficiency, but when you look at the results we later had, it meant we were superior to our opponents, and that's what we're aiming for again. I'm sure we can get back to that very quickly,” he added. (Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Toby Davis) Source: Reuters Newsletter Recommended Read Subscribe to CNA's Recommended Read A single handpicked story that we think you shouldn't miss. Just one a day. Sign up for our newsletters Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox Subscribe here Get the CNA app Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories Download here Get WhatsApp alerts Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app Join here Advertisement Also worth reading Content is loading... Advertisement Expand to read the full story Get bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try. Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST FAST