How Luis Enrique orchestrated PSG’s maiden UCL title triumph, leaving their Galacticos approach on the wayside

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This PSG team, bereft of any so-called big names, fully embraced the philosophy of Luis Enrique since he took over. (AP Photo)

As the Paris Saint-Germain players held aloft their maiden UEFA Champions League trophy, their manager Luis Enrique stood behind, a little aside from the direct glare of the camera, with his hands high and emotions surging through his glistening face. In retrospect, it ultimately turned out that it was him who was the missing piece of the PSG puzzle—not Kylian Mbappe, not Lionel Messi or Neymar.

This PSG team, bereft of any so-called big names, fully embraced the philosophy of Enrique since he took over. They were cool, confident and collected even as they faced a more experienced outfit in the final, a far cry from the jittery performances we have come to expect from the Parisians when the lights are on bright.

There was no overreliance on a particular individual as PSG played like a well-knit outfit and thrashed Inter 5-0 with Enrique calmly orchestrating a coup on this fateful night at Munich. Ousmane Dembele, Vitinha pulled the creative strings while Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Désiré Doué ran through the Italian team’s backline far too easily as the Nerazzurri were run ragged by the young Paris outfit.

In front of the rampaging French team, the Italians felt like they were stuck in the past, struggling to contain them. This quick press and lightning-fast counterattacks was what brought Enrique to the fore, back in Barcelona and in this PSG team, he has found the perfect outfit to imprint upon.

A life wrought with ups and down, Enrique had to step away from football for a bit in 2019 when his youngest daughter, Xana, passed away as a result of osteosarcoma, a type of cancer that attacks the bones and particularly affects children.

“I remember an incredible photo I have with her at the Champions League final in Berlin, after winning the Champions League in 2015, planting a Barcelona flag on the pitch. I wish I could do the same with PSG,” Enrique had said.

On Saturday night in Munich, the PSG fans paid a touching tribute to their coach when they unveiled a tifo which recreated the moment between Enrique and Xana, this time with PSG colours and the flag instead of Barca. On a night of vociferous celebrations, it added a tinge of poignance.

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Enrique is not a stranger to a win on the biggest night of club football with the Spaniard having accomplished a treble with Barcelona, consisting of Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, in 2015. But the win with PSG would feel even sweeter. In the Catalan club, he was one in the long line of managers who guided them to a UCL crown. In PSG, he is the crown prince, the man who achieved almost the impossible, the first coach in the Paris club’s history to add a UCL to their trophy cabinet. His team’s name will be entrenched in golden letters in Parisian lore till time stands still. And they are only getting started.

After his appointment in 2023, Enrique had convinced the club’s big wigs to sidestep the Galacticos approach and build something from the ground up. A more cohesive unit which would play like a well-oiled machine. He did not even twitch when Mbappe left for Real Madrid, a move that ultimately shifted PSG’s philosophy.

Enter 19-year-old Desire Doue, who scored twice in the final, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, ex-Wolves man Vitinha and Bradley Barcola who fit Enrique’s brand of football to the tee. The only player with relative superstar aura was Dembele, a player who failed to reach his potential at Barcelona. But the coach in PSG was now paramount with Enrique even dropping Dembele from the team in a Champions League group stage match against Arsenal last year due to his lack of work rate. The French star would ultimately return to the team and burst into life, guiding PSG to the league title, domestic cup and the Champions League and is now even one of the contenders for the Ballon d’Or.

With Marquinhos and keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to add to the mix, Enrique has a perfect concoction of youth and experience at his disposal to dominate club football for a long time. How he wields it will be something to look forward to in coming years. But if the night in Munich is any indication, this might just be the start of a new French Revolution.

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