Portugal’s Vitinha is the perfect midfielder – PSG boss Luis Enrique | OneFootball

Brest 0-3 Paris Saint-Germain

French champions Paris Saint-Germain all but secured their place in the last-16 of the Champions League with a comfortable victory over fellow Ligue 1 side Brest on Tuesday evening.

Portuguese midfielder Vitinha opened the scoring in the play-off clash from the penalty spot and received glowing praise after the match from manager Luis Enrique, who described the former Porto man as the perfect embodiment of a midfielder.

PSG came into the match having won the corresponding league fixture 5-2 just ten days earlier. Their confidence only increased when Pierre Lees-Malou was penalised for handball and Vitinha stepped up to confidently send Brest goalkeeper Marco Bizot the wrong way, finding the bottom left corner after 20 minutes.

In-form attacker Ousmane Dembele then took centre-stage, the brilliant France international striking either side of half time to put PSG in a fantastic position heading into the second leg. Seleção stars João Neves and Nuno Mendes also played the full match and Gonçalo Ramos replaced Dembele on 82 minutes, but of the Luso contingent it was Vitinha who received the most praise from Luis Enrique.

“He is unique,” said the Spaniard. “In possession, he is vital for us in his pivot role, he manages the ball perfectly, he does not lose it, and brings a lot to the team. He is strong physically, mentally, and he plays a difficult and complicated role in the PSG midfield. He embodies the perfect midfielder.”

The return meeting takes place next week in the French capital, before which PSG travel south to Toulouse in the domestic league. Luis Enrique’s side hold a substantial 10-point advantage over rivals Marseille in Ligue 1, but it is their growing prospects of ending their long wait for European glory which is beginning to draw attention across the continent.