Latest news with #Poissy
Forbes
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
What Luis Enrique Knew That Paris Saint-Germain Never Did
Paris Saint-Germain's Spanish head coach Luis Enrique jokes with journalists during a press ... More conference in Poissy, west of Paris, on May 23, 2025, the day before the French Cup final football match against Stade de Reims. PSG will play the French Cup final football match against Stade de Reims on May 24, 2025 and Champions League's against Inter Milan on May 31, 2025. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP) (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images) Ahead of the club's appearance in the Champions League final, a clip of Luis Enrique being interviewed at Paris Saint-Germain's training ground began circulating on social media. Titled 'Is This the mindset PSG were lacking all this time?', it features the Spaniard addressing the camera in his trademark blunt style. 'One of the messages we've been trying to instil for many years now is: none of you are special,' he says over a montage of players training. 'If someone has made you believe that they are misleading you, they are fooling you. 'Because the moment you retire, you'll stop being 'special.' Truly special people are those who save lives or dedicate their entire lives to helping others. That's not us. 'We're just very fortunate people with a skill that happens to be paid very well. If we were playing table tennis we wouldn't even get noticed. We'd be walking, taking the bus or riding bikes and nobody would look at us twice. 'Man, how lucky we are to be good at something that pays well?' The logic of the title is hard to argue with. Before Enrique's arrival, PSG was the epitome of a club with 'special' stars. For a long time, being considered a star was a prerequisite for recruitment by the French champions. The problem was, as the title also suggested, it just didn't work at the highest level and against those with a stronger team ethos, PSG frequently fell flat. There are few better examples than the two years Paris Saint-Germain spent with the best individual forward line in world soccer: Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, and Neymar Jr. Those three stars sparkled together but made the overall team weaker defensively and affected cohesion. Taking to the field with three of the best players in the world, the Parisians never got further than the last 16 of the Champions League and, in truth, never looked like doing better. PARIS, FRANCE - SEPTEMBER 28: (L - R) Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe of Paris Saint-Germain ... More celebrate after victory in the UEFA Champions League group A match between Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City at Parc des Princes on September 28, 2021 in Paris, France. (Photo by) When the final of those three Galácticos, Kylian Mbappe, departed last summer to Real Madrid manager Luis Enrique sounded excited to dispense with the locker room's biggest ego. 'Yes, there's a star, a star that shines more brightly than anything else, that is the team. That is the star, the team,' he said. 'It's amazing. It is a feeling that I try to instil in my players. You see it on the pitch, one for all and all for one, like the Three Musketeers. That is marvelous in a team sport.' It now appears that Enrique's vision all along was a PSG without special ones. 'When I arrived at the club two years ago with my own idea and the idea of [football adviser] Luis Campos and president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, we tried to build a different team with a different perspective and different mentality, trying to play as a team,' he said ahead of the final. 'It's difficult but at the same time easy to do when you work with Luis Campos and Nasser Al-Khelaifi, trying to get new players. 'We are achieving things that we could dream, but at the same time, we need to go step-by-step and try to win the Champions League final.' What's remarkable about Enrique's transformation of PSG is how swiftly it has come together in Kylian Mbappe's absence. The team's cohesion and ability to handle adversity are worlds apart from the stroppy exits that defined Mauricio Pochettino's time managing a team of Galacticos. Enrique conceded that he might have had a grand idea for transforming PSG into a functioning collective, but that didn't mean he'd necessarily be given an extended time to deliver it. He added: 'We all know that we want a long-term project, but when you've worked in football for a pretty long time, you know that you don't have the luxury of waiting or of thinking, 'We'll win a title next season,' because next season, another team might be better than yours. We need to win now and be aiming for titles from day one.' 'If we had to analyze everything that's happened in the Champions League this season, I think that it would make for a great film because there's been a bit of everything. 'Thanks to the quality and the growth of our players and despite a difficult schedule with games against some very big teams, we managed to go through.' Enrique is one of those coaches blessed with a gift of gravitas. When you watch his interviews and feel inspired, you can only wonder what his team talks are like. Ahead of the crucial clash against Inter Milan, he issued a public rallying cry to players and fans. 'We all want to make history and to win Paris Saint-Germain's first-ever Champions League,' he told the club's official website. 'Winning a trophy for the first time is always the hardest, but that's what motivates me. There are only two teams and one game left, and I think that we can be proud of what we've accomplished, but we need to finish the job because our aim is to go down in history. 'Our team deserves to experience this final. I have no doubts about the fact that Paris Saint-Germain's fans and the club itself deserve to win this trophy. 'I don't know if it'll happen on May 31, a year later or two, three or four years later, but I hope that we'll be the first ones to write that history because that's what's motivated us since we first set foot in Paris.' Whatever your views on Paris Saint-Germain, few can begrudge the inspiring character Luis Enrique.
Daily Mail
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Declan Rice feels Arsenal are on the brink of a gold rush ahead of PSG clash but the final step - winning a trophy - is often the hardest, writes OLIVER HOLT
Out on the edge of the city, where the suburbs start to give way to lush countryside and the Paris Saint-German coach Luis Enrique rides the 9km from his house to the training ground in Poissy on his bicycle, everything was serene on Tuesday when Achraf Hakimi began to talk about what lies ahead for Arsenal. Hakimi transported us there, to Wednesday evening, as best he could. 'The atmosphere will be insane, inside and outside the stadium,' the PSG defender said. 'These are the games that kids want to play in. The city will stop breathing for this game; I completely get that. The fans helped us overturn the game against Manchester City when we were down and they deserve this joy now.' A few hours later, Mikel Arteta and Declan Rice walked into the Parc des Princes as it lay deserted and brooding on Tuesday evening, waiting for its moment. One after another, Arsenal coach and midfield general matched Hakimi for optimism. After a few minutes of listening, it felt like attending a seminar on the power of positive thinking. Arsenal may be a goal down from the first leg of this Champions League semi-final, when they never quite recovered from a PSG masterclass in the opening 30 minutes, but you would not have known it to hear the pair speak. Rice, who will be freed to play in his favoured No 8 role by the return of Thomas Partey after suspension, exuded wide-eyed, smiling enthusiasm for the task in front of him and his team even though he will up against Vitinha, Fabian Ruiz and Joao Neves, commonly regarded as the best midfield in Europe. He talked about it as a chance to edge closer to immortality, a chance to make history by reaching Arsenal's first Champions League final for 19 years, a chance to start a gold rush of trophies that will put Arsenal's nearly-man reputation to the sword. 'The next step for us is to win trophies,' Rice said, after he had been invited to recall the two stunning free kicks he scored against Real Madrid in the quarter-finals. 'I sense that we're close, but to get over the line, you have to win that first one. I feel like they'll start coming in for sure. We have such a good group, but we need to keep believing and being positive.' It was in another part of the city, at the Stade de France, where Arsenal lost their only appearance in the final to Barcelona in 2006 but Arteta, who played for PSG for 18 months, is determined to lay those ghosts, too. 'Yes, it will give us another opportunity in this city,' Arteta said, 'and it brings you to places that are so related sometimes. It's a beautiful story, so let's make it our own tomorrow. 'We come here with huge enthusiasm, huge energy. We are a win away from being in the Champions League final and we are in the most beautiful city in the world. Against a great opponent. It doesn't get much better than that. We are here to make history. We have a big opportunity. 'Winning trophies is about being in the right moment in the right place. Liverpool have won the title with fewer points than we have had in the last two seasons so you have to be in the right moment in the right place. Hopefully we are in the right moment in the right place in Paris tomorrow.' Arteta also hinted that the pressure PSG will be under in front of their own fans. They have blown advantages better than the one they hold over Arsenal before, notably the four-goal lead they threw away over Barcelona in 2017 and the three goals in 17 decisive minutes they conceded to Real Madrid in 2022. But there is pressure on Arteta, too. Their failed challenge for the Premier League title has curdled into rather a grim battle to hang on to second place, with some even suggesting the apocalyptic scenario that they could yet lose their place in the top five. Some, even among Arsenal's support, have sought to portray Wednesday evening's second leg as a match that could doom Arteta's reign at the Emirates if his team does not manage to respond to its own blizzard of optimism. PSG will be under pressure from their own fans in Paris, Arteta insisted ahead of the tie Those voices are suggesting, even before the game has taken place, that Arteta has hit a ceiling at the club and that the prospect of three successive second-placed finishes in the Premier League shows that Arsenal's progress has stalled. That analysis is flawed. It assumes, for a start, that Arsenal's natural place in the English football firmament is as a regular winner of league titles and that Arteta is somehow selling the club short. The reality, of course, is that Arsenal have not won the league for 21 years and have only won it six times in the last 72 years. They are not habitual champions. It does not mean they do not have a right to dream, as every club does, but Arteta is moving them closer to that dream. It is frustrating that Arsenal cannot get over the line in the league but that does not change the fact that Arteta is consistently over-achieving with the resources at his disposal. Not that those resources are inconsiderable but they do not match what is available to Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool. Arteta is getting Arsenal closer all the time. Whatever happens at the Parc des Princes, reaching the semi-finals of the world's leading club competition is another example of the club's progress and its restoration to Europe's elite. It would be absurd for Arsenal to think about sacrificing that maturity and consistency by dispensing with Arteta when he has brought them so near to the big prizes. They can see the destination now. They just need to back the manager by strengthening the squad in the summer and holding their nerve. There is still a feeling, despite support for Kai Havertz from within the club, that the club needs an upgrade in its front line, whether that is with a conventional centre forward or with another forward who plays more as a false 9. This run to the last four of the Champions League, and possibly beyond, can only help with the recruitment process. If they can add PSG to Real Madrid in their list of victims, attracting the best players will be that much easier. The last step, though, is often the hardest. Beyond all the talking, and the gleaming smiles, Arteta and Rice know that. 'To be in the final of the Champions League,' Arteta said, 'you have to do something exceptional. Tomorrow night is the night we have to elevate ourselves.'
