Enrique: Dembele is recovering slowly; Achraf? I also coached Alves

Hupu, October 26th: Paris Saint-Germain head coach Luis Enrique attended the post-match press conference after defeating Brest 3-0.

Before the game, you said that Achraf Hakimi is the best right back in the world. He used this goal to prove the correctness of your remarks...

It is not difficult to say this, it is obvious. He has the ability to read situations and attack the space behind his opponents. When you face a team with a deep defense, you have to know how to attack the spaces.

So, when Vitinha has the ball, when Hakimi goes deep... he's incredible. He had a great game tonight and he has that quality offensively. It's always difficult to win at Brest and I'm very happy with the way we won.

Have you ever seen a defender as skilled as him?

If you remember, I also coached Dani Alves! It's hard to compare players and I don't like that. Every player is different. But I am very satisfied with the quality of Hakimi, Marquinhos, Nuno, Pacho, Vitti and Zabarni. I'm happy because I have these incredible players.

Do you think your team exudes a calm temperament?

We are very confident. Ligue 1 needs regularity and stability. We are experts on this path. We are composed and know our potential. We are confident because Ligue 1 and the Champions League are different competitions and it is great to be in this position.

You will face Lorient on Wednesday and Nice on Saturday. How will you cope with such a tight schedule?

We like this situation. One game every three days is comfortable. We are used to it. It's time to get all the players on the field. We also have two players injured (Joao Neves and Fabian Ruiz). We have to get them back. It's important to have everyone on the field because there are a lot of games.

When can Dembele start?

We don’t want to rush things. We want to take our time. He played 30 minutes against Leverkusen and 30 minutes against Brest tonight. He feels good. We have to know how to deal with this situation. He will be back to 100% soon.

Do you think it will make you feel more relaxed that Paris leads Ligue 1 again after tonight?

Rumors! Any league/cup match is a marathon. You can run the first 10 kilometers very quickly, but by the end, you have to run 42 kilometers.

There are still many games to play. We are a stable team that plays a lot of games every three days. We are very relaxed. We hope to perform well throughout the season. It's normal for status to fluctuate. We had a lot of players injured and we didn't deal with them in the best way, but that's no excuse.

Do you have any news about Joao Neves and Fabian Ruiz?

They're at home now, quietly drinking water and maybe some beer, I don't know!