PSG rue costly mistakes as Enrique refuses to blame injuries

PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique admitted his team gifted Bayern Munich their chances in a 2-1 Champions League defeat on Tuesday, but stressed he would not hide behind the club’s growing injury crisis.

PSG were overwhelmed early on in Munich, falling 2-0 behind after a Luis Díaz double in a dominant first-half display by the hosts. The Colombian’s night ended abruptly, however, with a red card for a dangerous tackle on Achraf Hakimi — forcing the Moroccan full-back off before the break and joining Ousmane Dembélé, who had already exited injured.

“We’ll have to wait until tomorrow after the tests,” Luis Enrique said of the injured duo. “Ousmane’s injury has nothing to do with the previous one. It’s football — a contact sport. It’s unlucky because it’s complicated for the player, but these things happen like it happened to Jamal Musiala last July.”

The setback adds to PSG’s long list of absentees this season, with Dembélé, Désiré Doué, Bradley Barcola, João Neves and Fabián Ruiz all currently sidelined.

Despite the selection problems, Luis Enrique refused to let his team off the hook.

“In the first half, they were better than us. They created more chances, and we made some big gifts,” he admitted. “When you make that kind of gifts to players like this, it’s normal to lose — we could even have conceded more goals.”

PSG showed improvement after the interval and dominated possession against 10-man Bayern, but lacked the finishing touch to complete a comeback.

“We did the job well in the second half and could have drawn the game,” the Spaniard added.

The defeat leaves the defending champions with work to do — and injuries to overcome — as their European campaign continues.