Luis Enrique is Rebuilding Reputation Quickly After Finally Getting PSG to Play Like a Team

Spain coach Luis Enrique -File Photo/ JAVIER SORIANO -AFP
Spain coach Luis Enrique -File Photo/ JAVIER SORIANO -AFP
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Luis Enrique is Rebuilding Reputation Quickly After Finally Getting PSG to Play Like a Team

Spain coach Luis Enrique -File Photo/ JAVIER SORIANO -AFP
Spain coach Luis Enrique -File Photo/ JAVIER SORIANO -AFP

Luis Enrique has managed to rebuild his reputation quickly in his first season at Paris Saint-Germain.

With the French league title already in the bag, PSG now has a chance to win a historic treble of trophies — which would firmly re-establish Enrique as one of the top coaches in Europe after his image was tarnished by an unsuccessful spell with Spain.

PSG wrapped up the French league title with three games to spare this weekend, in one of the most dominant seasons in the league’s history.

The team is on a 26-game unbeaten streak in the league since September. With just one loss in 31 Ligue 1 matches so far, PSG has an unassailable 12-point lead over second-place Monaco.

“I wouldn’t have imagined this scenario going as positively as this,” the 53-year-old Enrique said.

The Spanish coach led Barcelona to nine trophies from 2014 to 2017, including the Champions League title, but his reputation took a big knock during his tenure with Spain's national team. Spain had just one win in four games at the 2022 World Cup and was eliminated by Morocco in the last 16.

Enrique can put that setback firmly behind him if he manages to also lead PSG to an elusive Champions League title, something the Qatari-backed club couldn't even achieve when it had Lionel Messi and Neymar playing alongside Kylian Mbappé, according to The AP.

PSG plays at Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals on Wednesday. It has also reached the French Cup final, where it faces Lyon on May 25.

There is no doubt PSG has made huge progress under Enrique's helm.

PSG also won the French league in the past two seasons, but got knocked out in the last 16 of the French Cup and the Champions League under Christophe Galtier last year, and under Mauricio Pochettino in 2022.

Trophies aside, Enrique showed his leadership skills by successfully navigating the tense relations between Mbappé — who will leave the club at the end of the season — and PSG's Qatari owners.

Enrique started Mbappé on the bench seven times this season, both to manage the France striker’s playing time and to test his options for next season. The strategy has worked well so far as Mbappé still leads the league with 26 goals — nine more than anyone else — and scored twice in the second leg against Barcelona in the Champions League quarterfinals.

TACTICAL MASTER

PSG owes a lot of its success to Enrique’s tactical shrewdness.

Manuel Ugarte started the season as the team's holding midfielder, but Enrique noticed that Vitinha was better at playing the ball out from the back than Ugarte, a ball winner by trade. So Enrique switched from using Vitinha as a box-to-box player to deploying him as a deep-lying playmaker in front of the defense. And Vitinha’s vision and passing skills have helped PSG get more control in midfield.

Likewise, Enrique quickly noticed that Lucas Beraldo struggled in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal against Barcelona as Robert Lewandowski dragged him all over the pitch. Enrique dropped Beraldo in the second leg to let the more experienced Marquinhos and Lucas Hernandez deal with Lewandowski. PSG won 4-1 to reverse a 3-2 home defeat in the first leg and advance.

Enrique was already known for his tactical flexibility at Barcelona, and has shown the same willingness to adapt at PSG by using different formations.

PSG has played with both a back four and a back three this season, and switched from using a lone striker in some games to two strikers in others.

Those variations helped Enrique rotate the team, make tactical experiments and create different kinds of problems for opponents.

“In order to be able to compete for every trophy, as I have said, you need a really big squad of at least 23 players. That is what we need here, and as the season has progressed, we have seen the importance of those players,” Enrique said.

Players’ versatility has been the key to Enrique’s rotation policy.

Marquinhos, Hernandez and Beraldo have been used as both center backs and fullbacks this season. Carlos Soler and Warren Zaire-Emery are midfielders but had to deputize in the right back position.

Lee Kang-in has played as a winger and as a midfielder. And Enrique even used France winger Ousmane Dembele in the No. 10 position a couple of times.

But perhaps Enrique's greatest achievement has been to build team chemistry at a club where star players have often seemed more influential than the coaches in the past.

PSG's repeated failures in the Champions League have usually been due to the fact that the collective performance seemed smaller than the sum of its parts.

By contrast, PSG now looks like a genuine team.



Arteta Urges Arsenal to Carry Champions League Momentum into Brentford Clash

Football - Champions League – Quarter-final - First Leg - Arsenal v Real Madrid - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - April 8, 2025 Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta celebrates after the match. (Reuters)
Football - Champions League – Quarter-final - First Leg - Arsenal v Real Madrid - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - April 8, 2025 Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta celebrates after the match. (Reuters)
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Arteta Urges Arsenal to Carry Champions League Momentum into Brentford Clash

Football - Champions League – Quarter-final - First Leg - Arsenal v Real Madrid - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - April 8, 2025 Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta celebrates after the match. (Reuters)
Football - Champions League – Quarter-final - First Leg - Arsenal v Real Madrid - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - April 8, 2025 Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta celebrates after the match. (Reuters)

Arsenal are high on energy following Champions League win over Real Madrid and manager Mikel Arteta has urged his side to carry forward the momentum to their Premier League home game against Brentford on Saturday.

Arsenal stunned Champions League holders Real Madrid with a 3-0 victory on Tuesday and Arteta is now keen for the team to turn their attention to the Premier League, where they currently trail league leaders Liverpool by 11 points.

"There's been an unbelievable energy, a special night. That's over. Now full focus on Brentford, it's a game that is going to require the best of us," Arteta told reporters on Friday.

"It's not about bringing them back to earth, it's about maintaining the energy and putting it into Brentford. It's a team that, when you look at what they've done, is an incredible story. A big credit to them."

With a demanding schedule ahead, including Saturday's game against 12th-placed Brentford and the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Real Madrid on Wednesday, Arteta said he will rotate players according to the schedule rather than the opposition.

"We will look at how the players recovered, because it's not just about the Real Madrid game, it's about the schedule in the next few weeks as well," Arteta said.

"... This is our context - play every three days and play in different competitions on the biggest stages. Playing in Europe then coming back and facing a different challenge in the Premier League.

"If you want to become a team that has the capacity to win in any of those then you have to do it every three days, regardless of the scenario."

Arteta said Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka are both fit after coming off with knocks against Real, however, he did not put a timeline for the return of defender Riccardo Calafiori, who injured his knee last month.

The 43-year-old also hinted at an early return for midfielder Kai Havertz, who underwent surgery after a hamstring injury in February.

"The mindset of those two players (Saka and Havertz) is very similar. Great injury history, work ethics, desperate to get back as quickly as possible. A great medical staff to look after them," he said.

"Hopefully we can have him (Havertz), but let's wait. But the last stage of the rehab, it's when you can understand better to make that last step."