Luis Enrique: "We all want to make history"

ON PARIS'S EUROPEAN RUN

"If we had to analyse everything that's happened in the Champions League this season, I think that it would make for a great film because there's been a bit of everything, be it in the very first game at home to Girona – which I think that we deserved to win without having to wait until the 90^th minute and without taking advantage of a mistake by our opponents – or in the rest of the league-phase matches, especially at home, where we deserved better results but didn't get them. It's very rare that you see a team at this level be so unlucky. I think that it was very important for us to reflect on what the team was doing well in those moments; working on improving our finishing was also essential, but that was closely related to our confidence. With only three games left, we had just four points, but we felt that we were capable and that the team was doing a lot of things well. In terms of statistics, we were close to the best teams in the competition, and ever since we corrected that efficiency problem, we haven't stopped improving and growing.

"Thanks to the quality and the growth of our players and despite a difficult schedule with games against some very big teams, we managed to go through. In the long term, though, that schedule was a very powerful weapon for us because it meant that the league phase had already prepared us for this kind of game, and for a team as young as ours, that was highly positive."

ON THE GAME AGAINST MANCHESTER CITY BEING A TURNING POINT

"Some games change everything – be it for the fans or for the players themselves – and can twist a team's fate. Against City, we were 2-0 down, but we'd scored a first-half goal that was ruled out for an extremely tight offside, and we never deserved to be behind, even though football isn't about merit. Maybe that game was important for us as a squad; we've gradually improved and managed to reach our usual standards at certain key points in games. I think that the team has grown and reached an even higher level than what we were expecting.

"That's why football is so incredible, why it stirs such emotions and why we're now in the final."

ON THE TEAM'S PROGRESS

"When I joined PSG, we quickly came to an agreement about what we wanted to do. Our aim was to gradually create something different and special, something that would attract players and make them want to come to PSG, which is a big club that draws interest. We had to make the right signings, and the sporting director, the club president and all of the backroom staff played a very important part in that. We believed in the players that we'd looked for, the players that were already here and our young players. They all help us, so it's important for us to make the right signings again in order to reach another level.

"We all know that we want a long-term project, but when you've worked in football for a pretty long time, you know that you don't have the luxury of waiting or of thinking, ‘We'll win a title next season’, because next season, another team might be better than yours. We need to win now and to be aiming for titles from day one."

ON the prospect of MAKING HISTORY IN THE FINAL

"We all want to make history and to win Paris Saint-Germain's first-ever Champions League. Winning a trophy for the first time is always the hardest, but that's what motivates me. Even though it's a very special title, Champions League finals are obviously very difficult. This game will have all of the hallmarks of a final in the sense that as soon as there's a goal, the team that's behind will take more risks than usual, which changes the strategy that you'd initially prepared. That strategy is constantly changing.

"Inter played in the final two years ago, so this will be their second final in three years. They're an experienced side with a manager who already knows what it's like to coach in this kind of game, and they play very well in possession and defend very well. They undoubtedly deserve to be in the final.

"There are only two teams and one game left, and I think that we can be proud of what we've accomplished, but we need to finish the job because our aim is to go down in history. Our team deserves to experience this final. I have no doubts about the fact that Paris Saint-Germain's fans and the club itself deserve to win this trophy. I don't know if it'll happen on 31^st May, a year later or two, three or four years later, but I hope that we'll be the first ones to write that history because that's what's motivated us since we first set foot in Paris."