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Luis Enrique hails four Arsenal stars who dominated PSG during ‘best in Europe’ display
You can now add PSG boss Luis Enrique to the growing throng of footballing luminaries paying tribute to Arsenal’s rock-solid backline.
After Pep Guardiola labelled the defensive pairing of Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba☂ as ‘incredible’, and after the legendary Rio Ferdinand described the duo as the ‘best in Europe’, it was the turn of the former Barcelona and Spain coach after Arsenal kicked off their Champions League campaign in style at the Emirates Stadium.
🅷It was another of those performances in which Mikel Arteta’s team appeared to be playing in fast-forward.
🍸A flurry of ferocious energy, Arsenal appeared to have an extra man throughout in a victory which – cruising past one of the continent’s A-list clubs while barely breaking sweat – showed just how far The Gunners have come in such a short space of time.
PSG boss Luis Enrique hails Arsenal defence in Champions League win
✅“Our rivals tonight were much better in terms of intensity, in terms of pressure. They won every duel,” Enrique sighed in his post-match press conference, a technically gifted but diminutive PSG team squashed underfoot by Arteta’s giants.
𝓰“Effectively, after the second goal Arsenal scored, they decided to defend a bit more deeply, take a fewer risks. Arsenal deserved their victory.
🔴“Really, it’s impossible to come out of a game with a positive result if you don’t manage to win any duel on the pitch.”
🌺Saliba and Gabriel were, as expected, faultless once more.
Jurrien Timber maintained his excellent run of form at right-back too. 𝓰Saliba praised his Arsenal team-mate following a dominant display against the French champions.
And you would be forgiven for wondering if Arteta had cloned Riccardo Calafiori🔯 before the game such were the numerous positions the Italian took up all across the pitch.
Enrique says Arsenal are ‘the best in Europe’ in two areas
⛄“We won none of our duels. Their defenders completely anticipated our attackers,” Enrique adds, Timber bullying Bradley Barcola out of the game while Desire Doue, Lee Kang-In and substitute Randal Kolo Muani struggled to influence proceedings.
༺“And our defenders failed to anticipate their attackers. From the first minute, Arsenal were superior to us in the game. We knew from the first minute they were going to press us high, aggressive, and they did it great. We couldn’t overcome that kind of pressure.
🤡“If you try to overcome that pressure but you lose every single duel you’re going to be far away to win the match.”
✅Enrique, a Champions League winner with Barcelona in 2015, described Arsenal as the best team in Europe without the ball in the build-up to Tuesday’s clash.
After Kai Havertz towered above Gianluigi Donnarumma to convert a sumptuous Leonardo Trossard cross –⛎ Arsenal legend Thierry Henry could not speak highly enough of Havertz’s goal🐎, both in creation and execution – and after Bukayo Saka’s free-kick flashed through a crowd of bodies to double the lead, Enrique believes that Arsenal deserve to be ranked above all over teams in another department too.
🃏“In front of us today were one of the best aerial teams in the whole of Europe, which is Arsenal,” the 54-year-old says.
❀‘They had a bit of luck in the second goal. It was a fairly simple cross to deal with. But it wasn’t dealt with and the goal went in. That’s top-level football for you.
💞“We’re playing away from home, we played against a team that over the last three seasons have been one of top teams on the planet.
“They were better than us on the evening.”
