Lens/PSG – Sage wants to be « clinical and inventive » | OneFootball

This Wednesday at 9 p.m. (live on beIN SPORTS), Paris Saint-Germain (1st) faces Lens (2nd) at Stade Bollaert in the postponed match from Matchday 29 of Ligue 1 2025-2026. At the press conference, Lens coach Pierre Sage spoke about this match and the Parisian opponent.

Sage: “we’d like to celebrate more important things together.”

Any absentees to review?

Abdulhamid is suspended, Gradit and Gurtner are unavailable. The other players are ready to play, without exception.

A different man after being voted Ligue 1’s best coach? Can you tell us about your night?

No, I can’t tell you (smile). I didn’t sleep much. It’s a somewhat unusual status, but I’m happy to have come back and seen the staff again. It’s an award that belongs to them too, and we’ll do something together. We won’t miss it (smile). We’ll see in due time, but we’d like to celebrate more important things together.

Sage: “We also care deeply about delivering a good match against the best team in the world.”

A protest against the rescheduling of the match with heavy rotation?

That’s not an option for me. People pay for tickets and season subscriptions to watch a show. We also care deeply about delivering a good match against the best team in the world so we can get closer to that level. We also want to prepare for the final through this match. But we also want to be one of the teams that troubled PSG right to the end. We did that in the league and we’d like to keep doing it. It’s the first time I’m going to face PSG at home, even though I’ve already played them 4 times.

Does Sunday’s match also help prepare for the final?

There are two aspects. There’s the short gap between matches, like between Sunday’s and Friday’s. Our ultimate goal will be to be as competitive as possible on May 22. That requires both rest and rhythm; it’s important to play matches. I already saw while playing in Europe that if you rest players too much, they’re not ready afterward.

Sage: “You have to try to stay one step ahead.”

Will the lineup be decided case by case?

There’s that, but also players who didn’t play the previous match. So their ability to play 90 minutes may be affected, depending on the reason for the absence. There are differences. I’m not necessarily giving you the treatment for each case, I’m laying out the equation. You can try to solve it (smile).

What makes Luis Enrique the best coach in the world? What would you take from his management?

First of all, I thank him for the words he had for me and the team. He gave a lot of praise to the collective performances; he said that the two best teams in the league are going to face each other. To see one of the best in the world over such a long period consider us the 2nd-best team in the league is a great recognition. When you’re a young coach, you have to draw inspiration from the very best.

What he manages to do in collective management, with so much variety and flexibility, is the kind of thing that drives me. I don’t want to ask myself too many questions when we face him, because it’s hard to get quick answers. His team knows how to adapt effectively. You have to try to stay one step ahead. I had already tried that, and it didn’t work. I’m going to try to be more effective and imaginative.

Sage: “we already have the task of facing the best team in the world.”

Did the postponement affect your minds? Was it damaging?

It wasn’t from a sporting point of view, since we didn’t play. But it was damaging from a political point of view; it highlighted certain things in French football. Opposing camps are clashing. But that’s not our concern, we already have the task of facing the best team in the world. I’ll leave it to the executives to deal with the other side of the problem.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.