French Media Criticizes Enrique: Though Not a Fan of Dembélé, He Shouldn’t Have Been Benched for the Champions League Match Against Arsenal

At 3 AM on October 2nd, in the second round of the Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain will face Arsenal away from home in a highly anticipated match. Prior to the game, Dembélé was banned by PSG due to disciplinary reasons, prompting harsh criticism from French media RMC Sport, which condemned Coach Enrique’s decision as “a failure.”

The commentary from RMC criticized Enrique: “Although we were among the first to have reservations about Dembélé and were never staunch supporters of this player, he is part of the team, and he is there. When he plays, regardless of whether the coach likes it or not, whether his performance is outstanding or clumsy, whether he uses his left foot or right foot… regardless of what the coach wants, he can provide it. He is the player who poses the greatest threat to the opponents, and he has even played a role this year. On the eve of such an important match, how could the coach put him in such a situation, creating conflict with the most critical player before a tough battle? How could he make such a decision in front of everyone? At a press conference before a very important Champions League match, the coach had to waste fifteen minutes defending himself; this is a very failed situation!”

RMC Sport pointed out that this may be due to the coach’s personal preferences: “We introduced last year that Enrique is not a fan of Dembélé, and if there was a way to get him to leave… Dembélé is not a typical ‘Enrique player’ and never will be. When Dembélé misses opportunities, look at Enrique’s face; it’s not an encouraging expression, but one of indulgence in such failures. Dembélé does not fit the coach’s football philosophy. Enrique is a dictator who likes things to be done in a certain way; he is very dogmatic.”

In summary, the RMC Sport reporter used strong language to criticize Enrique’s move as favoring personal bias over public interest and pointed out that if PSG suffers a defeat at the Emirates Stadium, even if Dembélé is not involved in this battle, he may pay a high price in the future.