We deserve to be in the final, says Enrique

Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique insisted his team deserves its place in the Champions League final and is determined to go on and lift the trophy after winning its semifinal against Arsenal on Wednesday.

"Over the two legs we scored more goals than them, and, in football, it's the most important thing, but Arsenal played a great game, and we suffered a lot," the Spaniard said after PSG's 2-1 second-leg win in Paris that secured a 3-1 aggregate triumph.

"It is the match in which we suffered the most (in the Champions League), but we deserve to get to the final," added Enrique.

PSG will now face Inter Milan in the final in Munich on May 31 after an extraordinary run in the competition, which has also seen it knock out two other Premier League sides in Liverpool and Aston Villa.

It comes after PSG had been in real danger of elimination due to a poor run of results in the league phase — it lost three of its first five matches, including a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal.

That meant it came 15th out of 36 teams and finished eight points behind the best team, Liverpool.

"I think, throughout the competition, it is clear that the results are what counts, we know that, but in the league phase, there is no doubt we deserved nine points more," Enrique claimed.

"The fact we had such a difficult set of fixtures in the league phase helped the team improve and grow.

"The statistics showed that we were one of the best teams in Europe, and when we started to be more clinical, in a short competition, I think we have showed that we deserve to be in the final."

It will be PSG's second Champions League final, five years after it lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich in Lisbon.

Last year, in Enrique's first season with the club, it was beaten in the semifinals by Borussia Dortmund.

"There is no logic in football, but, the first day I was here, I said the objective was to work towards being able to make history. And that is our objective: To be the first (PSG side) to win this long-awaited trophy," added the former Barcelona coach, who turned 55 on Thursday.

AFP