PARIS – Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique sought to take the pressure off his side going into the Champions League semi-final, second leg against Borussia Dortmund on May 7, telling them not to worry about having to win by two goals to reach the final.

PSG will host Dortmund at Parc des Princes on May 7, with Niclas Fullkrug’s goal in Germany last week meaning Kylian Mbappe’s side must win by two to be in the final against Real Madrid or Bayern Munich at Wembley on June 1.

“The objective is not to play to win by two goals, it is just to win. You can’t afford to think about having to win by two goals. We need to score one first of all, and win the match,” Enrique told reporters on May 6.

PSG are looking to repeat their heroics in the quarter-finals, when they lost 3-2 at home to Barcelona in the first leg, but qualified with a 4-1 win in the return – despite conceding the opening goal in Spain.

“It doesn’t matter if we concede – it happened against Barcelona – we’ll just need to stay calm,” the Spaniard added.

He also said the key to getting top scorer Mbappe more involved in the game was not necessarily to make him drop deeper to get on the ball.

Mbappe has scored 43 goals for PSG this season, including two in the second leg against Real Sociedad in the last 16, and two more away in Barcelona.

But he struggled to make a major impact in Dortmund.

“Our objective is that our best players participate. The more they take part in the game, the better it is,” he said.

“But I want my strikers to be touching the ball in the areas where they can make a difference. I want him to get on the ball where he can be dangerous.”

Dortmund warmed up for the second leg by beating Augsburg 5-1 in the Bundesliga with a starting line-up that showed 10 changes from the PSG game.

PSG, in contrast, enjoyed a weekend off, with the French league postponing their game away at Nice until May 15 in order to aid their preparations.

“Obviously in life there is not only work. You need to also do things outside of work to be better at your job. I love sport, I love cycling, playing padel – we have a court here – I like having leisure time, and professionally it has been a good week too,” Enrique said.

“We have had time to analyse, we have had training sessions focusing on defence and on attack, and today it will be a normal session on the eve of a game, a bit more relaxed. We are thinking about how lucky we are to be playing in a semi-final.”

The only time the Ligue 1 champions have appeared in the biggest match in club football turned out to be depressingly flat, with PSG losing 1-0 to Bayern behind closed doors in Lisbon in 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Enrique said he was prepared for the possibility of a disappointing defeat, adding: “Life will continue and when the sun shines in Paris it is always marvellous.

“If we lose, we will congratulate them and we will wake up again the next day.

“We might be disappointed, but we will be proud and will say to ourselves that we will get up again and try to get to the final next year.”

Mbappe, however, believes that his team will bounce back from their 1-0 loss and qualify for the final.

“We’re confident that we’ll come back from that score and reach the final,” the 25-year-old Frenchman told reporters in Paris during an event with 2,000 children organised by his “Inspired by KM” association on May 6.

“There’s a lot of pressure, which is normal because there’s a place in the Champions League final at stake, which is very important. Especially when you consider the club’s record in the competition,” he said, adding that “taking part” in this event with the children helped him to “prepare”.

“We’re aware of the pressure, but the group is extremely calm.

“We’re confident that we’ll come back from that score and reach the final.”

“I’ve often had the same warning from the children. I’ve heard a lot of ‘You’ve got to win!’ And they’re right, we have to win. In any case, a day like this is good for the development of the man I am. And I’m sure I’ll arrive at the match in a good mood, ready to defend my team’s colours and help us qualify for the final.”

It will in all likelihood be Mbappe’s last chance to win European football’s biggest prize with hometown side PSG after the France captain told the club he would be leaving this summer at the end of his contract.

The 2018 World Cup winner has not yet announced where he will play his football next season, but Spanish giants Real are the favourites to secure Mbappe’s signature.

Reaching the June 1 showpiece in London, and playing before a crowd of 90,000, would be a different occasion entirely.

Getting there would give Mbappe the chance to end his seven-year stay with the Qatar-owned outfit in the best possible way, as they look to become just the second French club to win the Champions League after Marseille in 1993.

While all eyes will, as usual, be on Mbappe, the key to Luis Enrique side’s chances of overcoming Dortmund to reach the final may be in defence.

They suffered a huge blow when Lucas Hernandez ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while trying to stop Fullkrug’s goal in Dortmund. He is expected to be out for many months.

Dortmund, who have their sights set on capping off their dream Champions League run by making the final for the first time since 2013, are also affected on the defensive front, as right-back Julian Ryerson left Signal Iduna Park with cramps and was not involved in the beating of Augsburg over the weekend.

Manager Edin Terzic is also hoping strikers Sebastien Haller and Karim Adeyemi will be ready for the return leg to help alleviate the scoring burden on the 31-year-old Fullkrug, who has 16 goals in all competitions this season.

Former Juventus and Italy striker Alessandro del Piero lavished praise on the Germany international after the first leg, saying he was “on another level”.

“He’s not that fast, not that strong, but he’s so effective. He’s underestimated. He’s a real threat in the penalty area. He’s a real striker,” del Piero, now a TV pundit, told CBS.AFP