REAL Sociedad head coach Imanol Alguacil has admitted that he was relieved that his side did not suffer a bigger defeat to Luis Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain last night in the UEFA Champions League.
Kylian Mbappe and Bradley Barcola netted in Paris last night to give PSG a 2-0 win over Sociedad, who had Super Eagles of Nigeria striker Umar Sadiq on for the last 12 minutes.
Alguacil felt the defeat could have been worse as he looked forward to the second leg of Real Sociedad’s first-ever meeting with PSG.
“In the second half I think think we could have paid an even bigger price than 2-0,” Alguacil said in his post-match interview.
“Therefore I’m happy with only having let in two goals. I think if we can play like we did in the first half today at home, then we will have our opportunities. We will be able to stand up, compete and make it really difficult for Paris.”
Enrique, who will be returning to his homeland for the return leg in three weeks, has not written off Real Sociedad from progressing to the quarter-finals.
“My goodness, how we had to suffer. I want to congratulate Real Sociedad, who are a great team and competed amazingly,” the former Barcelona and Spain manager said.
“I had a lot of excitement to go up against a fellow Spaniard in Imanol, and they dominated the first half. I cannot even begin to think about the return leg yet.”
PSG star man Mbappe also insisted that there is still a lot to play for.
“We’re happy with the result. We wanted to win at home, that was the objective,” the France international noted.
“Now we have another game to play. Before, we have three in the league. We are happy now, but the job is not done.”
