Luis Enrique sees positives despite PSG’s scoring woes

Paris St Germain coach Luis Enrique said he would never criticise his players for their lack of precision in front of goal, choosing instead to focus on the positives after his side drew 0-0 at Auxerre on Friday.

PSG remain top of Ligue 1 with 34 points, eight ahead of Marseille with a game in hand, despite playing out a second straight draw following last week’s 1-1 stalemate at home to Nantes.

While the Parisians were unable to capitalise on their dominance at newly-promoted Auxerre, Luis Enrique praised his side’s performance ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League clash at RB Salzburg.

“It’s clear that the result does not reflect what happened on the pitch, but we were up against the second-best team at home. We have created many chances to score,” Enrique told reporters.

“Obviously, the unfinished business is scoring goals, which is what wins games, but I have nothing to complain about my team, we have tried until the end, all we have to do is keep on trying.

“This is a team that scores a lot of goals and creates a lot of chances. Now we’ve had a series of games where we haven’t scored especially in the Champions League but on Tuesday we will go out and try to win.

“If we are unlucky I will never criticise my players for missing an opportunity to score, I just encourage them to keep building confidence and improve.”

The French champions will be desperate for a win in Austria after a 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich left them 25th in the 36-team Champions League table, with four points and outside the playoff spots with three matches remaining in the first phase.

However, Luis Enrique said PSG’s faltering European campaign is not causing any doubts as they are only focused on the games to come.

“(We have) a fish memory, the previous result doesn’t matter to me, there is only the Salzburg match,” the Spaniard said. “We have so many people reminding us how bad we are that if we focus on the negative we are about to jump off a cliff.

“We will go to Salzburg for the win from the first minute, to give our best version without a safety net, because we don’t have a safety net anymore.”