Paris Saint-Germain was held off by Athletic Club Bilbao in a 0-0 draw at Champions League. That was just enough for PSG to still claim the third place in the table with 13 points, but it was a big relief for the Spanish side, currently 28th in the league, at risk of elimination, but after surviving a visit from the defendinf champions, with renewed hopes that they can win the upcoming two matches and qualify for the knockout play-offs.
The match was a reunion between Luis Enrique and several players from the Basque club that 'Lucho' worked with when he was manager of the Spanish national team (between 2019 and 2022). Among them, Athletic Club's goalkeeper Unai Simón, who was named Man of the Match after some heroic saves against the French side.
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After the match, in press conference, Luis Enrique praised Simón, and remembered that it was him who chose to promote Simón to be the starting goalkeeper of the team. "I'm very fond of him. Do you remember the criticism I got from the press when he was the third goalkeeper and I put him in the starting? Nobody remembers that? I do!"
"I'm delighted. He deserves it. He's a top-level football player. We took a risk when we put him in. He's more than proven the level he's reached, a top level to play for any team in the world", the PSG manager said, but joked that "I told him at the end: 'You have to play your best game against me...'"