Paris Saint-Germain drew 1-1 with Toulouse FC at Stadium TFC, marking their second consecutive draw to start the 2023-24 Ligue 1 season. However, the question remains: Why were Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé on the bench to start the game?
After the contest, manager Luis Enrique spoke with CANAL+ (h/t Paris Fans), where the Spanish tactician answered his decision to start the match with Mbappé and Dembélé, not in the starting 11.
“I’m the coach,” Enrique told the French outlet. “It’s up to me to choose the players. Who will start the game. You talk about it, but I don’t.”
Enrique then discussed what he saw from the two Frenchman once they saw the pitch in the second half. Mbappé scored on a penalty kick in the second half, but it wasn’t sufficient to secure three points for the squad.
“Well, it’s rewarding but in the second half we started to lose balls,” Enrique added. “We left details en route, it’s a team that has to be competitive in Ligue 1 and the Champions League and we can’t do that. These errors we must learn to avoid.”
PSG will look to rebound when they face RC Lens next Saturday at the Parc des Princes. The capital club will try to finally get a win after two consecutive draws.
Nonetheless, the Parisians will likely face a tough challenge from Lens as their opponent. Lens nearly beat out PSG to win the Ligue 1 title last season, and they’ll aim to be a competitive squad this season.
Still, if Mbappé and Dembélé play a full 90 minutes, the French giants should pull all three points at home.
