Feb 16 (Reuters) - 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.
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)
