Luis Enrique is not known as someone who treads the beaten path. He has always loved to live on his terms, a non-conformist to the core.
During his playing career, the Spaniard had moved from Real Madrid — he never felt at home in the Spanish capital — to Barcelona on a free transfer; he wore the captain’s band for the Catalan club; and after Ronaldinho came on board to herald a new era in
Barca, he left.
As a coach, too, he has been no-nonsense. In his first year (2014-2015) as coach of Barcelona, there was a reported animosity between Enrique and superstar Lionel Messi; Barca’s season had looked destined to unravel after a supposed players’ revolt in the dressing room. It took Xavi’s mid-season intervention to ensure that all was well.
Once the stars realised Enrique was the boss, they fell in line and Barca went on to win the La Liga, Copa del Rey and the Champions League. That was the last time they had won European club football’s biggest prize.
As the Spanish national team manager, Enrique had the courage of ignoring players from Real Madrid since he thought they would not fit into his system. And during the Qatar World Cup, Enrique did not shy away from speaking about tactics, his daughter’s affair with the Spanish national team forward Ferran Torres, on an interactive livestreaming service. Very few would have done that during a World Cup.
But then that’s Enrique. Brutally straightforward, honest, courageous and never known to bow down to star culture. For him, it’s the team which comes first. That’s why he had the guts to tell Kylian Mbappe that Paris Saint-Germain would win the Champions League without him. He did.
On Saturday, a young, competitive, supremely fit and highly talented PSG ran roughshod over a clueless Inter Milan in Munich to land their first Champions League title. The 5-0 romp was one of the most one-sided European Cup finals
and Enrique’s face as he pranced on the sidelines in joyful glee would not be forgotten very soon.
PSG’s Qatari owners had splashed money on superstars, thinking they would get them the Holy Grail. Neymar, Thiago Silva, Lionel Messi, Edinson Cavani, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Kylian Mbappe. Big names, big money. Result? Failures.
There were egos in the dressing room, larger than life superstars just did not know how to gel as a team. Their presence sold shirts, made PSG a global brand, but nothing more. They were the newer version of Real Madrid of the early part of the new millennium when a galaxy of stars struggled and stuttered.
Enrique arrived last season and tried to change the mentality. He had run-ins with Mbappe and once the French icon left for Real Madrid, Enrique picked that as the starting point of the rebuilding process.
Unlike national teams, in club football coaching, there is time to work on the process. Enrique could have given Spain a European Championship in 2021 (losing to Italy in the semi-final), and could have stayed in Doha for a much longer period (Morocco ousted them in the last-16). He lost his job as Spain went for a change.
In PSG, though, after yet another failure in Europe in 2023-24 (they lost to Borussia Dortmund in the last four), top boss Nasser Al-Khelaifi did not lose faith in the 55-year-old coach.
This season they won the treble — Ligue 1, the French Cup and the Champions League; quadruple if one adds the French Super Cup PSG won in January.
“It’s (the Champions League trophy) in the bag, it’s coming home with us to Paris tomorrow (Sunday),” a beaming Enrique said after the match.
“My first day at the PSG campus, I said the ultimate goal was to fill the trophy cabinet. The only trophy missing was the Champions League. Here we have ticked that box.”
Enrique built a team rock solid at the back and fast in attack. Nuno Mendes (22) in the defence, Vitinha, 25, and Joao Neves, 20, in the midfield, Desire Doue, just 19, in the attack.
The youngsters followed their coach’s instructions to the T. “We are here because of him,” Doue, who became the youngest player to score and assist in the Champions League final, agreed.
Add to that the experience of Achraf Hakimi and Marquinhos, the rediscovery of Ousmane Dembele and the speed and guile of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Kvaratskhelia, the Georgian, was brilliant on Saturday as he kept pressing Inter on the left flank. That left Denzel Dumfries dumbstuck. The Dutchman just did not know how to deal with the Georgian’s intensity.
Enrique’s focus on the team game was evident once again, as many as four players scored. Apart from Doue, who got two goals and set up another in little over an hour on the field, Hakimi, Kvaratskhelia and 19-year-old substitute Senny Mayulu had their names on the scoresheet. It could have been more, but Inter were spared more humiliation.
On the eve of the final, Enrique had spoken emotionally about his nine-year-old daughter Xana, who died of bone cancer in 2019. One of the most memorable pictures of Enrique’s 2015 European triumph with Barca was the father planting the club flag in the middle of Berlin’s Olympiastadion pitch and the daughter cheering him on. PSG fans unfurled a giant tifo of that everlasting image in Munich on Saturday.
“It’s here every day of my life, whether we win or lose,” the father said, pointing to his heart, about his daughter. Xana’s mother, elder brother and sister were in attendance to watch Enrique deliver what no coach managed for PSG.
It’s one in the kitty and the frightening talent that PSG have at their disposal, there will be more to come. PSG can dominate Europe for the next few years.
