Enrique laments lack of accuracy

Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique insisted he was "proud" of his side, despite what he called an "unfair" defeat at the hands of Borussia Dortmund in their Champions League semifinal.

PSG missed out on reaching next month's final at Wembley after losing Tuesday's semifinal second leg 1-0 at home to the Germans and going out of the competition 2-0 on aggregate.

"My feeling is of sadness. It can't be anything else. We didn't manage to fulfill our objective," Enrique, who led Barcelona to Champions League glory in 2015, told reporters.

He pointed out that PSG hit the frame of the goal four times in the second half of Tuesday's game, having also struck the post in last week's 1-0 defeat in the first leg in Germany.

"I don't think we were inferior over the tie. We hit the woodwork six times. The curious thing about football is that sometimes it's not fair — we had 31 shots and did not score a single goal.

"We have to accept it, congratulate the team that reached the final, mourn this and get over the disappointment."

He added: "I am very proud of my team, without any doubt. I am the first one responsible for the defeat as coach, but I am happy with the attitude and behavior of all the players."

PSG had been hoping to get to the Champions League final for the second time in its history and win the trophy for the first time.

"We weren't efficient, they were efficient, they scored two goals and won both matches. There's a lot to take from this competition," captain Marquinhos told reporters.

"At the start of the season, nobody believed we'd get this far. We've overcome a lot of obstacles, but we can't throw everything away now, just because we've been eliminated. We have to remember that this is a new project, with a new coach.

"There are positive things to take into the next season."

PSG must now console itself with the prospect of a potential clean sweep of domestic honors in France.

The Qatar-owned club has already wrapped up the Ligue 1 title and will play in the French Cup final against Lyon on May 25, in what will be Kylian Mbappe's last game for the club — he will depart when his contract expires at the end of the season.

"The objective I set out when I arrived was to compete as well as we could for every trophy," said Enrique, who was appointed as coach ahead of this season.

"When the season ends, after the Cup final, we will see what we have achieved."

The Spaniard said he had tried to offer words of comfort to his players in the dressing room after the game.

"I never talk to the players after a game, but today I made an exception. I tried to lift them, but there is no consolation after such a defeat.

"But, this is life and this is sport. It is very important to know how to win, but also how to lose."

PSG has now lost all six legs of its three Champions League semifinals, after double defeats against AC Milan in 1995 and Manchester City in 2021.

The year it reached the final, in 2020, it beat RB Leipzig in a one-off semifinal after COVID-19 disrupted the season. It lost in the final against Bayern Munich.

This season started with a new coach, and without Lionel Messi and Neymar, as club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi put an emphasis on building a team over individual talent.

While not always brilliant, PSG has looked like an organized outfit, and Enrique said he is already building a team without Mbappe.

"The players and coach gave their all. Congratulations to Dortmund. We deserved better, but it's a tough game. I'm proud of my team, the youngest in Europe," Al-Khelaifi said.

"We've reached the semifinals three times in five years, and while our objective is still the final, that's soccer, sometimes it's not fair."

Agencies