The Spanish Luis Enrique, the French coach of Paris Saint-Germain, expressed his great happiness with “the ambition of his players and their desire to continue the victories,” following the landslide victory over his countryman and host Villarreal (6-0), on Tuesday, in the fourth round of the unified group stage of the European Champions League football competition.
The Parisian team, the defending champion in the past two seasons, swept its host, scoring four goals in the first 17 minutes, which is a new record for the fastest four goals in the history of the continental competition. Coach Enrique's men were not satisfied with that, but added two more goals in the second half.
The 56-year-old coach commented, saying: “If I had to highlight one thing, it would be the mentality with which we went into the match. We played the same way regardless of the result. Today we showed the ambition we have as a team.”
In contrast to Saint-Germain's inconsistent performance in its victory over Manchester City (4-2), where it led by three in the first half before the English club came close to returning the result during the second half, the Parisian team did not retreat at all this time.
Enrique added: “Even in the Champions League final against Inter (the Italian 5-0 two years ago), we never thought of retreating to defend the result. Our way of respecting the opponent is to maintain the same level of intensity throughout the match.” He stressed that his players were “very effective in applying pressure and creating opportunities.”
Despite this, and as always, the former Barcelona coach was keen to put the excellent performance of his team, which leads the Unified Group League with a full score of 4 wins (12 points), awaiting the matches of his partners Real Madrid of Spain and Liverpool of England with AEK Athens of Greece and Fenerbahce of Turkey on Wednesday, with an average of five goals per match, in the correct context.
He concluded by saying: “Right now, this means nothing.” There will only be one champion, and that will be decided after the final in Madrid, and the most important thing is getting there. “I am happy with the ambition of this team and the performance of the players, but the real competition will not actually begin until February and March (during the knockout rounds).”
Sales of supermarkets in Brazil have seen a rise in the wake of the ban on online betting, while revenues for football clubs have declined, representatives of the supermarket and football sectors said during a hearing before the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva imposed a ban on sports betting and online casinos on October 5, during the election campaign that led to his re-election. The government justified this decision by pointing to the worsening excessive indebtedness among a sector of the population.
The president of the Brazilian Supermarket Association, João Galassi, explained that an “actual growth of 6.5 percent in food consumption” was observed during the first week following the implementation of the ban.
Galassi stressed that the money that was previously spent on betting “began to be directed toward purchasing food, paying off debts, and meeting the needs of families.”
But the betting sector, which is supported by many football clubs sponsored by companies in this sector, has filed several appeals against this measure, and the Supreme Court is currently considering them.
Flavio de Araujo Williman, vice president of Flamengo, the most popular club in Brazil, stated that the ban caused “a decrease in revenues of about 430 million Brazilian reals annually” (equivalent to 70 million euros).
Other major clubs in the country, such as: Corinthians, Cruzeiro, Botafogo, Fluminense, Gremio and Sao Paulo, also reported a decline in their revenues.
Some club representatives pointed out that other countries that banned betting advertisements, such as Belgium, Italy and Spain, gave clubs a period of several months to correct their situation, while the sector in Brazil was given only 10 days to adapt to the decision.
The ban, which was imposed by decree, is also subject to discussion in Parliament, which must vote to give it the force of law before the end of next January.
However, the conservative opposition strengthened its majority there during the elections that took place on October 25.
Portuguese Bruno Fernandes, captain of Manchester United, denounced the “speculation” and “lies” that have spread recently about the “Red Devils,” denying the existence of any tension with coach Michael Carrick, and affirming his complete confidence in him.
The English club put an end to a series of 9 consecutive matches without achieving any victory in various competitions, with an exciting victory over its Italian guest, Roma (3-2), in the fourth round of the Unified Group League of the Champions League competition on Tuesday.
In statements to the Amazon Prime channel, Fernandez seemed upset when asked if this result was enough to “save” his coach. The 32-year-old attacking midfielder said: “The club needed this win, as well as the players. We needed him as a group, players and technical staff alike. “We worked very hard to get out of this situation together.”
Fernandez had previously publicly criticized the coach's tactics following the previous European match, which ended in a loss to Italian Como (1-4), after which he found himself on the bench in the next league match.
Fernandes said with a serious face: “There has been a lot of speculation in the media, and many lies have been spread about events that occurred within the club, especially regarding my relationship with the coach. They even claimed that we had held a session to settle matters, which did not happen at all.”
He added: “The coach made the decision to leave me on the bench, because my performance was not good, and this is completely normal. Some considered this to be punishment for my statements, and if that was indeed the case, it was completely justified.” He continued: “Carrick is the one who makes the decisions, and I have to accept them.”
He concluded by saying: “In any case, this does not change anything in my confidence in the coach, his technical staff, and every player in this club. “It also does not change my goal at all: to win every match.”
