Soccer Football - Champions League - FC Salzburg v Paris St Germain - Red Bull Arena Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria - December 10, 2024 Paris St Germain coach Luis Enrique REUTERS/Gintare Karpaviciute
(Reuters) - Paris St Germain boss Luis Enrique praised his side after their 3-0 win at Salzburg in the Champions League on Tuesday, but said they must improve if they want to stay in the competition.
The Ligue 1 leaders endured a terrible start to their Champions League campaign, with defeats to Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich and last season's Premier League runners-up Arsenal.
However, Tuesday's win moved them into the playoff places and they now sit 24th in the standings with seven points from six games.
Yet that is not enough for the coach.
"Football is a pretty unfair sport, the classification is quite tight, a goal can make a difference and we still have two important games ahead, we can still be out," the manager said.
"This wasn't a better game than PSV (Eindhoven) or Atletico Madrid, I'd even say it was worse, but that's football, we know we have to improve and the squad hasn't changed a lot. We need points, and we will try to win the next games."
The manager did, however, praise the efforts of Nuno Mendes, who scored their second goal.
"Nuno brings other solutions for his physical and technical qualities. He can both complete the triangle at the back and play up front. He's playing higher up at the moment. He brings a lot offensively. But that could change," the manager added.
Luis Enrique will now turn his attention in the competition to the match against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City on Jan. 22, before they close their campaign against VfB Stuttgart seven days later.
"We don't have the number of points we should have. It was important to score tonight because for one goal, you can be out of the Champions League. We have to go game by game, there's City now," he said.
(Reporting by Angelica Medina in Mexico City; Editing Toby Davis)
