After two lopsided wins, Paris Saint-Germain was tested on the road on Sunday in their matchup against Lille OSC. Moreover, manager Luis Enrique had high praise for their opponent, as the Parisians nearly left the contest having drawn.
PSG went up 2-0 with goals from Vitinha and Bradley Barcola, but Les Dogues didn’t go down without a fight as Edon Zhegrova made it 2-1. The Parisians would score in the second half stoppage time to secure the 3-1 win over Lille.
Despite the win, Enrique praised Lille for giving PSG a match they expect to see in the UEFA Champions League.
“In the second half, we could really feel the difference: they’ve played a lot of official matches, while we’ve only had three,” Enrique said (h/t Culture PSG). “They’ve been in competitive form for a full month, so their rhythm was noticeable in the second half.
“They almost managed to get a draw, but we ended up securing the win. It was a tough Champions League match, but the team did well.”
The capital club head into the FIFA international having won their first three matches and riding positive momentum. Nonetheless, they’ll need to carry this impressive form out of the break when the UEFA Champions League gets going as the Ligue 1 side have challenging opponents in their league phase of the competition.