Luis Enrique hopes Paris Saint-Germain’s shock early exit from the Coupe de France will serve as motivation for his team for the rest of the season.
Jonathan Ikone scored the only goal as Paris FC won 1-0 at the Parc des Princes, with PSG falling to the round of 16 for the second time in the last two decades.
However, the Parisiens are still well placed to continue their success from the 2024/25 season, with their next match against Lille in Ligue 1 on Friday.
PSG are second in the table but know a win will put them ahead of leaders Lens, who face Auxerre 24 hours later and could build their one-point lead.
And ahead of meeting their fourth-place opponents, Luis Enrique urged his team to make a statement to reaffirm their commitment to competing on all fronts this season.
“After a defeat, everyone wants to get back to work. We analyzed the match,” Luis Enrique told reporters.
“We know we did everything we could to beat Paris, but sometimes you come across a goalkeeper who stops everything. That’s football, but you have to keep going.”
“We play against one of the best teams in the competition on Friday, it is up to us to put the necessary ingredients into it.
“It is important to know that we deserved to win the match. It is clear. We lost, we accept the result and we wished PFC good luck for the rest of the competition.”
“But I hope it will be a motivation for us to give even more in the league and the Champions League.”
D-2 for the LOSC match! #PSGLOSC I @ Visitrwanda_now pic.twitter.com/dTKSK0SzXm
— Paris Saint Germain (@PSG_English) January 14, 2026
However, Lille will give PSG a stern test. Bruno Genesio’s side have won seven of their last ten matches in Ligue 1 and are eyeing a return to the Champions League.
Their last league match came in October, when Ethan Mbappe, brother of former PSG star Kylian, scored an equalizer in the 85th minute to secure a 1-1 draw.
“When we looked at Lille, we saw that they are doing a lot of good things, with and without the ball. There is a lot of quality,” added Luis Enrique.
“We will be at home, it will be a good test to see how we handle things after the defeat. We hope we will put in a good performance.”
“We are playing against a big team after a defeat and we know it will be a tough game, it has always been that way every time we have played against them.
“We want to win to progress in the competition.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
PSG – Nuno Mendes
Nuno Mendes scored PSG’s only goal in the reverse fixture, and he could prove key to his team’s chances of victory here.
Indeed, he is the defender with the highest averages for shots (2.2), shots on target (1.1), touches in the penalty area (3.4) and goal involvement (0.6) per 90 minutes in Ligue 1 this season (minimum 400 minutes played).
Lille – Hakon Haraldsson
Should Lille have a chance of getting a result against PSG, Hakon Haraldsson will be key as he has created more chances (26) than any other player for Lille in Ligue 1.
He has also registered six goals (five goals, one assist), a total surpassed only by Felix Correia’s seven.
MATCH PREDICTION: PSG WIN
PSG have won 10 of their last 11 home games against Lille in all competitions, with the only exception being a defeat in April 2021 in Ligue 1 (0-1).
However, they have conceded at least one goal in each of their last eleven matches against Lille in all competitions (13 in total), with their last clean sheet coming in March 2021 in the Coupe de France (3-0).
And they know a win will put them on top. Before kick-off, the Parisiens are not the leaders in Ligue 1 in January for the first time since the 2020/21 season, a season in which they finished second in the final standings behind Lille.
PSG also failed to score in their last home game, a 1-0 defeat to city rivals Paris FC in the Coupe de France, but they have never gone consecutive home games without scoring in all competitions under Luis Enrique.
Lille, meanwhile, have lost just one of their last five Ligue 1 (W4) matches, but that was their most recent, against Rennes, which went down 2-0 on January 3.
On the road, however, they are in great shape. Lille was able to win three away games in a row during one Ligue 1 season (three) for the first time since February and March 2022.
OPTA CHANCE OF WINNING
PSG – 64.6%
Draw – 18.9%
Lille – 16.8%
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