Latest news with #Enrique
Irish Independent
16 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
‘I always think about her' – Luis Enrique emotional at tribute to his daughter after PSG's Champions League win
PSG routed Inter Milan 5-0 in Munich as Desire Doue's double, as well as goals from Achraf Hakimi, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and substitute Senny Mayulu, secured a historic treble for the French league and cup winners. After the game, PSG supporters unveiled a tifo paying tribute to Enrique's daughter Xana, who died in 2019 at the age of nine from cancer. Enrique said: 'I'm very happy. It was very emotional at the end with the banner from the fans for my family. 'But I always think about my daughter.' Enrique joined PSG last July and has overseen the development of a brilliant young team following the departure of star striker Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid. It was the 55-year-old's second treble as a manager after winning the Champions League, LaLiga and Copa del Rey at Barcelona in 2015. The Eiffel Tower was lit up in the red and blue of PSG to mark their first Champions League triumph, and only the second by a French club after Marseille in 1993. Enrique said: 'Since day one, I said I wanted to win important trophies, and Paris had never won the Champions League. 'We did it for the first time. It's a great feeling to make many people happy. 'I tried to keep the pressure down for a club that had never won the competition. Inter are a great side, but we were fantastic in our pressing. 'Every player improved this season, and so did the team. 'A coach needs to control their emotions – you need to deal with the pressure in order to help the players. 'We prepared the final with the necessary calm to put the excitement in the right place. Now we can enjoy it; we can take the trophy back to Paris. 'We had a great start to the game, dominating from the beginning. But I wanted them to keep pushing, scoring, to ensure we won the game.' Inter boss Simone Inzaghi promised his side would bounce back from their Munich mauling, when they conceded twice in the opening 20 minutes and never recovered. 'We need to learn from defeats and come out stronger,' said Inzaghi. 'This hurts like the Istanbul final (2023 defeat to Manchester City). 'It's a heavy defeat because it comes in a final. We can come out stronger from this defeat, like we did in 2023 and then won the league the following season. 'Paris deserved to win this game and the trophy. We're disappointed, but the path to this point was great. 'The game, of course, wasn't good enough on our part. 'I thanked my players for what they did this season. We didn't win a trophy, but I am proud to be their coach.'
Glasgow Times
16 hours ago
- Sport
- Glasgow Times
Luis Enrique backs Ousmane Dembele for Ballon d'Or after PSG's European glory
Dembele did not score in Saturday's 5-0 thrashing of Inter Milan but he set up two goals and produced a superb flick in the build up to PSG's third. The former Barcelona attacker has 33 goals in all competitions this campaign, with 22 of them coming in this calendar year to help the Parisians add the Champions League to Ligue 1 and Coupe de France titles. Luis Enrique dropped Dembele in October for a defeat away to Arsenal and the forward was sent off a month later at Bayern Munich, but he responded supremely to achieve his best scoring season to date and become favourite with bookmakers for the Ballon d'Or. While Dembele was happy to play down the accolade ahead of Saturday's match, his manager championed the 28-year-old following a one-sided final. 'I would like to say that everyone is talking about the Ballon d'Or but I would give it to Ousmane Dembele,' Enrique told a press conference. 'If we think about how he defended, he showed just what he was made of. He was a leader, he was humble, he got back down and defended. I think without a shadow of doubt, he deserves this. Ousmane Dembele played a supporting role in Paris St Germain's resounding victory (Mike Egerton/PA) 'Not only for the goals that he scored but also for the pressing we saw. We have seen such a season from him and he was exceptional in this final.' Dembele will get the chance to further press his claim later this month when PSG take part in the Club World Cup in America. Even though Enrique's team will get hardly any rest, he plans to add the continental cup to their Champions League, Ligue 1, Coupe de France and Trophee des Champions successes. Enrique added: 'I think it is an incredible competition. Maybe not now it's a first edition, but it will become an incredibly important title to win. 'I think the fact the best teams in the world are going to meet every four years and not with nations teams but clubs is incredible. 'We want to finish the season in style and I guess it would be the cherry on the cake. This would be the fifth trophy of the season if we are able to pull it off.' Two-goal hero Desire Doue is one of several young starlets at PSG and Enrique sent an ominous warning to the rest of Europe. Desire Doue played a starring role (Mike Egerton/PA) The Spaniard said: 'My first day at the PSG campus when I had my first press conference and my French was even worse than it is today, I said the ultimate goal for me and us was to fill the trophy cabinet. 'I said the only trophy that was missing was the Champions League and here we are. 'We have ticked that box, we were ambitious and we are going to continue to conquer the footballing world.'
Indian Express
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Loyalty magnet, fitness fiend and career resurrector – Luis Enrique conducts a football symphony at PSG
An enormous tifo depicting Luis Enrique and his daughter Xana plating a PSG flag on the pitch fluttered in the stands behind the goalposts where PSG fans revelled in their most glorious European night. The recreation of the same frame of the father and daughter, who died six years ago, from 2015, when Barcelona lifted the Champions League trophy in Berlin, broke the manager down, a man who was a firebrand in his playing days. It was a touching message that the manager's grief was theirs too. That he had won their love. Leading up to the final, he had dwelled emotionally on the tragedy, the dark days and the guiding light Xana had been for him. The passage humanised an intellectual tactician of his time, offering a glimpse of the man behind the manager, strong and fragile in equal measure, stern and soft in the same breath. It's the essence of Enrique, the player, manager and the person. A midfielder, nicknamed Lucho, who combined steel and style, he adapted to different roles various managers thrust on him, adopted to the diverse cultures of Barcelona and Real Madrid, vowed to kill the man who broke his nose, the Italian right back Mauro Tassotti in the 1994 World Cup, yet hugged and forgave him in their next meeting. His footballing ideals were forged in the Barcelona fire, but he questioned some of the untouchable dogmas when he returned as the club's manager. He had rumoured stand-offs with Lionel Messi even in the treble-winning year at Barcelona, yet the Argentine rates him among the two best managers he has worked with, the other being Pep Guardiola, Enrique's roommate for five years at the Catalan club. He was despised in Madrid for joining the bitter rivals, but on a free transfer, he had openly exhibited his love for Barcelona, yet when he became the manager of the national team, he showed little allegiance to his favourite club. In Munich on Saturday, he joined the old pal as the only two managers to have won the European trebles on two occasions. And with two different clubs. Their trajectory is similar. Both have been captains at the Camp Nou; both have coached the B team; both have managed the first team, with whom they both won a treble in their first season, and both gave two clubs owned by Middle East states their first taste of Champions League. Yet, the Barcelonas they managed were different, albeit differently enjoyable versions. Enrique did not fixate on possession as much as Guardiola did, embraced a more direct and vertical style. 'I have tried to look for things based on my players' individual talents to help us, and what is best for the team,' Enrique would say. In his vision for the team, he was not bothered by hurting the ego of celebrity footballers. When he joined Roma in 2011, he told the club icon Francesco Totti that he didn't figure in his scheme. At the Nou Camp, he dropped Xavi and Gerard Pique, the latter to improve his fitness. A fitness freak, who comes to work on his bike, he competes in the Marathon de Sables, a 155-mile race over six days in the Sahara desert, and takes his team to crushing sprints along the mountainous terrain of Asturias, near Gijon, the town he was raised in, during the preseason. A stickler for discipline, he imposes fines on players and drops the serial offenders that arrive late to training or meeting, insists on players saluting the supporters after the game and instructs his players, even if injured, to be present on the training ground before practice. He reads the game not through the numbers, but by his eyes. He once told Kylian Mbappe, who netted a hat-trick that game, that he could have 'played better'. He has repeatedly specified that he nursed no personal vendetta against players. 'I do not mark my territory, I am not a hunting dog,' he once fumed at a journalist who pestered him about dropping Xavi to the bench. Yet, his men are fiercely loyal to him. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia reflected on the manager's approach in an interview on the UEFA website: 'What struck me most about him was the kind of person he is and how he treats his players. When someone comes to you calmly and explains everything then the player tries even harder to understand and perform even better. He makes you feel, both on and off the pitch, that you have to give your all – for him, for the club, and for all the fans. He treats you with such respect and clarity. It's his humanity that made the biggest impression.' He has revitalised careers. Ousmane Dembele seemed a frustrated and forlorn figure when he joined PSG the year before. His 185 appearances had just produced 40 goals. In 90 games for PSG, he has struck 39 goals already. A clumsy finisher, few managers would have risked to experiment as a false nine, an intricate role in itself. Enrique did this to spectacular effect. It succeeded not only because Dembele was talented enough to adjust and he did have an untapped goal-scoring eye, but also because Enrique tuned the rest of his troupe to synchronise their movements in accordance with the Frenchman's. Dembele the false nine worked because Kvaratskhelia and Desire Doue worked too. His is such a wondrously assembled and grooved side that it is difficult to pinpoint who is his best player and who is not. He has let the best qualities of everyone shine. The club's owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi concurred after the triumph: 'This season, the star is the team. If you ask me who is the best player today, I don't know — all of them.' Perhaps, there is just one star in this team. He goes by the name Luis Enrique.
India Today
17 hours ago
- Sport
- India Today
UEFA Champions League: Managers who have won titles with 2 different clubs
Champions League: Managers who have won titles with 2 different clubs Credit: Credit Name Luis Enrique created history as PSG thrashed Inter to win the Champions League title. Luis Enrique creates history Luis Enrique joined an elite list of managers with his title win. Enrique joins elite list Here's a look at the managers who won the UCL with two different teams. (Courtesy: PSG) Managers who have won UCL with two teams Enrique is the new name on the list having won the UCL with Barcelona and PSG. Luis Enrique The legendary Austrian manager won the UCL with Feyenoord and Hamburg. Ernst Happel Hitzfeld won the UCL with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. Ottmar Hitzfeld Guardiola won the Champions League with Barcelona before helping Manchester City claim their first one. Pep Guardiola Carlo Ancelotti won the UCL with AC Milan and Real Madrid. Carlo Ancelotti Jose Mourinho won the UCL with FC Porto and Inter Milan Jose Mourinho
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
🚨 Would you have picked him? Champions League player of the season
🚨 Would you have picked him? Champions League player of the season Yesterday he secured the trophy with his team, and today he's also being crowned the king of the Champions League. As UEFA announced this afternoon via 'X', Ousmane Dembélé has officially been named Player of the Champions League season. Deserved? Advertisement In 15 matches, the Frenchman scored eight goals himself and assisted his teammates six times. Under Enrique, he finally contributed defensively as well and especially shone with his versatility. Whether through the middle or on the wing—Dembélé performed at a world-class level in various positions and is rightly considered a Ballon d'Or candidate. This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here. 📸 FRANCK FIFE - AFP or licensors
