PSG: Players savor the title, Luis Enrique prepares for the finals

The wait is so great, the time until May 31st so long, that we imagine them all champing at the bit, thinking only of Munich and the Nerazzurri jerseys that will stand before them. All things in their own time. Even though two big finals, the Coupe de France against Reims and especially the Champions League final against Inter Milan, are looming, the PSG players didn't want to waste Saturday night's Ligue 1 match against Auxerre, but instead savored the work accomplished this season in the league. "The coach told us to be serious until the end, to hold on to the victory. It's the best way to prepare for the final matches," Vitinha explained.

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For the Parisian midfielder, the best way to approach the Champions League in 15 days was to absolutely not think about it and to "play a match like we just did. When the match arrives, we'll be ready." According to him, the squad isn't yet thinking about Munich. "No, we already have the Coupe de France to play, it's a great match, a great match," Vitinha continues. "When you know the atmosphere at the Stade de France, you really want to see how we're going to be. Right now, we're thinking about celebrating (the league title) and then we'll move on to the Cup."

He, like his teammates, appreciated the few days of rest granted by Luis Enrique. "With the back-to-back matches and the Club World Cup, the holidays are going to be short. So the few days we have are welcome. It's important physically, but even more so mentally, to think about something else, to be with family and take our minds off football to get back to 100%."

An opinion shared by Désiré Doué: "If the coach gave us days off, it's because he thinks it's important for us, we took them and here we are, ready for this match against Auxerre, ready for the next one (against Reims) and the Champions League final. Of course, I feel very excited to play in this Champions League final. May 31st, it's going to come quickly. The most important thing is to prepare well. And we'll take stock at the end."

While he hasn't shied away from the title celebrations this year, Luis Enrique agreed before taking the stage that "everyone's mind was on 31." At least, he was particularly so. The Spanish coach will therefore have waited until the end of the season to change his mindset. He, who has constantly repeated that only the next match mattered to him, that no part of his mind could be available for a Champions League match if a Ligue 1 encounter was scheduled beforehand, is not taking the same approach this time.

Two weeks before the big event in Munich, the coach, unlike his troops, has already switched to preparation mode for this meeting which has captured the minds of all Parisians.

If he fielded his first-choice team this Saturday, the one that, with the exception of the two-man seat that Barcola and Doué are expected to compete for, will undoubtedly start against Inter, it wasn't to delight the Parc des Princes stands and thank his regular players for their contribution to the quest for this 13th title. But rather to get them back into the game after the five days of vacation granted to most of them. Up front, for example, he needed to get Ousmane Dembélé back in action. To test his sore thigh, of course, but above all to get him back into rhythm, the Parisian top scorer having, before kickoff of this final matchday, only had twenty short minutes of play under his belt since the beginning of May. But if he also took him off, with 16 minutes remaining in the match, it was for the sake of management, so as not to push himself too hard and jeopardize his key players, whom he, as usual, rotated. And it doesn't matter that his changes could jeopardise the individual awards for top scorer or best passer in which Dembélé and Barcola were respectively involved.

Although Marseille's Mason Greenwood, despite his double in the evening, did not take the title of "Piccicci" from Dembélé, Lyon's Rayan Cherki snatched the title of best passer from Barcola by a hair's breadth.

"I think that in the end Barcola didn't get the trophy for best passer and that Ousmane got it, but only just," Luis Enrique observed at a press conference before expressing satisfaction with his troops' state of mind. "The greatness of this team is that collective objectives surpass individual objectives. When players think more about the team than themselves, that's when we create the collective. Bradley and Ousmane were in that position (of being able to claim an individual distinction) but they thought of the team first. I thought about the minutes of playing time, and not only for those who started but also for those who came on during the match. I have no doubt: we will arrive in very good condition for the two finals."

The coach is all the more convinced that he knows how to keep his troops under pressure, even though he insists he still has no idea what starting eleven he will field in Munich. "There is nothing certain about the starting eleven," he said. "For example, I saw Mayulu play at a very high level. A simple training session can change things; if one player is flying on the pitch, or another is providing assists, it can have an impact. That's the mentality I want to see, anyway. Nothing is decided in advance."