PSGs Enrique says team toughened

MONACO OUT: Lazar Samardzic’s injury-time spot-kick advanced Atalanta in the Champions League, with PSG, Real Madrid and Galatasaray also moving ahead

• Reuters, PARIS

UEFA Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain have fought through a tougher schedule than any other side to reach the last 16 in this season’s competition, coach Luis Enrique said on Wednesday after they squeezed past AS Monaco.

PSG were held 2-2 at the Parc des Princes in the second leg of their knockout-round playoff, but advanced 5-4 on aggregate.

Luis Enrique did not hide his disappointment with his team’s performance, notably in the first half when they went a goal behind.

“Did I like what I saw? No, no, I didn’t like it, but that’s football,” he said. “We had an incredible schedule during the group stage, then we continued with these playoffs against Monaco, they’re a great team.”

“That’s the competition of the Champions League, you have to accept it,” he said. “I think in the first half we were very imprecise, but in the second half we were in control, we scored both goals, it was the perfect result, but in the last few minutes we conceded that goal and it was dangerous at the end, but we’re happy. We know that to win the Champions League, you need competition and we’re experts at that level.”

PSG next face either Barcelona or Chelsea. That is to be determined today, when the draw for the last 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals is made.

“If there’s one team that has played against good teams and had the toughest group, it’s clearly us,” Enrique said.

PSG’s opponents included Atalanta BC, Barcelona, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Newcastle United, Sporting and Tottenham Hotspur — all of whom are also through to the last 16.

“We’re used to playing these kinds of matches against any team, and of course we can improve … but next time it will be even easier, with Chelsea or Barca, right?” Enrique joked.

Elsewhere, Vinicius Junior sealed Real Madrid’s progress to the Champions League last 16 with the clincher against SL Benfica, while Juventus almost pulled off a stunning comeback from their 5-2 first-leg deficit against Galatasaray, but extra-time goals from Victor Osimhen and Baris Yilmaz gave the Turkish club a 7-5 aggregate victory.

Lazar Samardzic’s injury-time spot-kick put Atalanta through 4-3 on aggregate against Borussia Dortmund.

Vinicius scored the winning goal in a 2-1 victory on the night to secure a 3-1 aggregate success for Real in the play-off tie in Madrid.

Vinicius “had a great game,” Real Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa told Movistar. “Unbalancing them, scoring, creating a lot of danger every time he took them on.”

A week on from the racism furor in the first leg in Lisbon, Vinicius provided the perfect riposte as the man he accused of racial abuse, Argentine midfielder Gianluca Prestianni sat out the match with a provisional ban imposed by UEFA.

Benfica coach Jose Mourinho was also suspended for the match against his former employers, but his side briefly gave him hope of a shock result.

Rafa Silva gave Benfica a deserved lead on 14 minutes, but two minutes later, Aurelien Tchouameni leveled things up on the night with a crisp finish from Federico Valverde’s cutback.

With strike-partner Kylian Mbappe injured, Vinicius stole the limelight, breaking clear 11 minutes from time to fire across goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin and into the far corner.

Tchouameni called it “a victory over racism.”

Additional reporting by AFP