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India Today
3 days ago
- Sport
- India Today
No Mbappe, No Problem: How Luis Enrique's PSG conquered Europe without superstars
On a historic night in Munich, Paris Saint-Germain finally laid their ghosts to rest. A ruthless 5-0 dismantling of Inter Milan in the Champions League final on June 1 crowned PSG champions of Europe—a moment decades in the making. It was a victory that also sealed a sensational quadruple, but more than the silverware, it marked the rebirth of a club that had long chased glory the wrong man behind the transformation? Luis had always dreamed in gold. But for years, their reflection in Europe's most coveted trophy was nothing more than a glittering illusion. Superstars came and left, millions were spent, and every spring brought more questions than answers. Until one man walked in—not to bask in the spotlight, but to dismantle it. On June 1 in Munich, Paris Saint-Germain didn't just win the Champions League. They tore through Inter Milan 5-0 in a final that felt more like an execution than a contest. It was the culmination of a season where football finally caught up with fantasy. And at the centre of it all stood Luis Enrique—a man who had once guided Barcelona to continental greatness, but this time did it with a team that had no Messi, no Neymar, no Mbapp. Just an Architect arrivesWhen Luis Enrique took charge of PSG in July 2023, he wasn't stepping into a project. He was stepping into a paradox. A club rich in ambition, but poor in cohesion. A dressing room lined with stars, but haunted by collapses. The 'Remontada' in 2017? That was his work—from the other came with a Champions League title under his belt, earned in 2015 with a Barcelona side that, yes, had its own galcticos—but also played with terrifying chemistry. Then came his time with Spain. Though he left before their eventual Euro 2024 triumph, it was his tactical groundwork, player integration, and unwavering belief in youth that lit the fuse. The man builds blueprints that last—even when he's no longer around to follow when he arrived in Paris and said, 'Our game does not consist in letting Mbappe do what he wants,' it wasn't just a quote. It was a warning shot. The celebrity era was Galaticos, hello grit Luis Enrique's PSG beat Inter Milan. Courtesy: Reuters By the time Kylian Mbappe packed his bags for Madrid in the summer of 2024, the last thread tying PSG to their poster-boy obsession had snapped. The world braced for another rebuilding year. Enrique, on the other hand, went to work.'I never imagined myself coaching PSG because their policy was to attract the biggest superstars. But now they want to change,' he said with characteristic candour. He made it clear: no more stars above the badge. No exceptions, no he meant it. From gruelling training sessions that mirrored his own desert-marathon mentality, to a 'no passengers' rule—everyone pressed, everyone defended, or they he needed wasn't time. It was two transfer just a year, Enrique uprooted PSG's culture and replanted it with role players over reputation, workers over wonders. Desire Doue and Warren Zaire-Emery Kvaratskhelia—his 70 million euros winter arrival—brought not just flair, but fire.'We all defend,' said Ousmane Dembele with a shrug, when asked what had changed in the club. The answer was simple. This wasn't a team that played for flair anymore. They played for each Paris to Munich: WHAT AN EVENING! Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) June 1, 2025advertisementRough start, ruthless finishIf the opening act of the 2024–25 season was scripted by skeptics, PSG played along. One win in five group-stage games. Ranked 26th out of 36 in the new Champions League-league phase. The usual whispers began—maybe Enrique had misjudged this squad. Maybe the Mbapp-sized hole was too that's the thing about a system built on structure: it takes time to breathe. When it finally did, it suffocated everything in its Dou, just 19, blossomed into a ruthless attacking force, scoring twice in the final. Kvaratskhelia became the heartbeat of Enrique's multi-positional chaos—dribbling, defending, the time they met Inter Milan in the final, PSG weren't hopeful—they were favourites.A final that buried the past Khvicha Kvaratskhelia of Paris Saint Germain. Courtesy: Reuters Munich didn't just crown PSG. It baptised them. Five goals, no reply. Every pass, every press, every duel felt like the result of months spent grinding in the background while the football world waited for them to irony? PSG are still one of the richest clubs in the world. But they no longer feel like the most expensive science experiment in football. That tag died with the old era—the one where Mbappe, Neymar, Messi, Ramos, and Donnarumma were supposed to conquer Europe with charisma proved charisma doesn't press in the 93rd minute. A system beyond trophiesThis title wasn't just about lifting a cup. It was about lifting a curse. Fourteen years after Qatar Sports Investments bought PSG with the stated goal of European domination, they finally got it. But not by buying brilliance. By building has now won the Champions League with two different teams, a decade apart. He has resurrected PSG not by rewriting their past, but by erasing the worst parts of it. He didn't just banish ghosts—he burned the blueprint that invited them walks away from this season not just as a winner, but as a vindicated prophet. In early 2024, when he claimed PSG would be better without Mbapp, most saw arrogance. Today, it reads like the Enrique didn't save reinvented them.
France 24
4 days ago
- Sport
- France 24
Champions League final: How Luis Enrique stripped PSG of their stars – and made them better
When Kylian Mbappé made public his decision to leave Paris last season, ending the club's 'Galactico' era, Luis Enrique sounded unfazed by the loss of the world's most coveted striker. 'Our game does not consist in letting Mbappé do what he wants,' the PSG coach told Spanish reporters, in a typically blunt statement. He added: 'That was the old philosophy (of the club), which never won a major trophy.' In two seasons at the helm, Luis Enrique has added two more Ligue 1 titles and as many French Cups to PSG's rapidly expanding silverware, though he knows that neither qualify as 'major' trophies for the club owned by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI). Champions League football is the real measure of success for a PSG coach, and the Spaniard has already improved on his predecessors' record. After leading the French Champions to the semi-finals last season, the former Real Madrid and Barcelona player is now just one match away from the title PSG have craved for so long – and for which QSI has spent a staggering €2.1 billion in transfers alone. Victory against Inter Milan in Munich would add his name to an elite group of two-club winners of Europe's most prestigious title, joining the likes of Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho. Out with the old guard Prior to his arrival, PSG were best known for their expensive Champions League fiascos, from the infamous 2017 'Remontada' in Barcelona to their home collapse against Manchester United two years later. The Spaniard, who plotted the 'Remontada' on the Blaugrana bench, says he accepted the Paris job on one condition: that he be allowed to mould the team as he pleased, ditching the celebrity culture that gave top stars priority over football coherence. 'I never imagined myself coaching PSG because their policy was to attract the biggest superstars. But now they want to change,' he told the Spanish documentary filmmakers who followed him last season. Luis Enrique arrived in Paris with a simple but firm mantra: no one head sticking out. He began by clearing out the old guard, starting with Neymar, the frustratingly inconsistent poster boy for PSG's bling-bling era. He was equally unsentimental in parting with the club's longtime midfield anchor Marco Verratti, a darling of the fans whose purportedly poor lifestyle was incompatible with the stringent work ethos demanded by the new coach. A fitness fanatic who once ran the legendary Marathon de Sables, a 155-mile race over six days in the Sahara, Luis Enrique introduced gruelling training sessions, strict tactical demands and an insistence on collective responsibility, with no player absolved of defensive duties – not even Mbappé. When the star striker bowed out the following summer, fuelling talk of PSG's fast-declining star power, Luis Enrique sounded typically upbeat about the season ahead. 'I'd rather have four players who score 12 goals each than one who scores 40,' he quipped. 'It adds up to more goals overall.' 'No plan B' After two years on the job, and as many transfer sessions tailored to his needs, Luis Enrique now has a squad ideally suited to his style of football, based on maximum possession, rapid movement and stifling pressing. It's a style of play that brought him a Champions League title a decade ago as Barcelona's coach – but which hasn't always worked out for his teams. His stint as Spain coach (2018-2022) famously ended in a World Cup defeat to Morocco that saw La Roja hold 77% of the ball, complete more than 1,000 passes, and yet manage only one shot on goal. Spain's attack was so blunted they even failed to score in the penalty shootout, despite the coach's assurance that each player had taken 1,000 penalties in practice. As the former Spanish international Iago Aspas put it, 'Luis Enrique had a very clear game plan, and when plan A didn't work, there was no plan B.' Earlier this season, PSG's Champions League campaign appeared to be heading much the same way as the French champions dominated games but proved unable to score. When the coach was quizzed about his game plan after a defeat to Arsenal in October, his reply came across as both arrogant and rude. 'I have no intention of explaining my tactics,' he answered tersely. 'You wouldn't understand them.' Defeat in Munich a month later left PSG staring at an early exit, before a thrilling comeback win over Manchester City in January kicked off a triumphant tour of England that saw them overwhelm Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal in succession. After the Reds' defeat on penalties at Anfield, Liverpool coach Arne Slot heaped praise on his counterpart for turning PSG into 'Europe's best'. 'Luis Enrique made an incredible team,' he said. 'So much pace, so much work rate, so much quality in the midfield.' 'If you don't defend, someone will take your place' While critics have bristled at Luis Enrique's sometimes abrasive tone, his no-nonsense approach and entertaining, forward-minded game have helped turn the Parisian upstarts into a more likeable team, earning the respect of their peers. The end of the superstar era has also nurtured the impression that the Gulf-funded outfit have become an ordinary club, when in fact they are still vastly outspending their rivals. The names may be slightly less eye-catching than in recent years, but it's hard to see who else could have coughed up €70 million to sign Napoli's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in the January transfer window. The versatile Georgian international has come to embody the flexibility Luis Enrique demands from his players, his ability to shift seamlessly between attack and defence adding an element of unpredictability to PSG's game. When asked to comment on the team's selflessness and abnegation, qualities so lacking in past seasons, striker Ousmane Dembélé gave a simple answer last month: 'The coach just kept telling us, 'If you don't press and don't defend, someone will take your place'. So, we all defend.' Long mocked for his erratic finishing, Dembélé has morphed into a goal-scoring machine this season, racking up 33 goals in 45 matches – more than in the previous five seasons combined. His transformation from mercurial winger to ruthless goal scorer owes much to the tactical innovations introduced by Luis Enrique, whose decision to place the versatile, ambidextrous forward at the heart of the Parisian attack has allowed him to make full use of his equally accurate feet. Dembélé is not the only one to have hit the 12-goal mark, with Bradley Barcola (21 goals), Gonçalo Ramos (18) and Désiré Doué (13) also vindicating the coach's pre-season forecast. Add Kvaratshkhelia (6 goals since January) to the mix, and PSG fans will be hoping the squad's youthful, multi-pronged attack is too much to handle for the Nerazzuri 's ageing legs. That's unless Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi can come up with an antidote for the Parisians' intoxicating game – and Luis Enrique has no 'Plan B' in store.
News18
08-05-2025
- Sport
- News18
Mikel Arteta In Denial! Calls Arsenal The 'Best Team' In UCL Despite Exit vs PSG
Last Updated: In what has become a predictable fashion, the Gunners failed to capitalize on their opportunities and their opponent's weaknesses when it mattered the most. Every now and then, in football, we experience someone showcasing grace in defeat. It surely is not one of those times now, as Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta couldn't swallow his pride after his defeat to PSG in the semi-final last night, defiantly insisting the Gunners were the best team in the Champions League this season. 'I don't think there's been a better team in the competition so far"Mikel Arteta speaks on the progress of his Arsenal team, and believes they've been the best team in the Champions League despite losing to PSG 💪🎙 @Becky_Ives_ | 📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 7, 2025 After all the hoo-hah following their triumph over a dismal Real Madrid, Arteta's side plummeted to a 3-1 aggregate defeat against Luis Enrique's Paris Saint-Germain, after losing 2-1 in the second leg at the Parc des Princes. It was a painful loss for the Gunners, who created numerous chances in the early stages, only to be denied by a series of superb saves from Gianluigi Donnarumma. Goals from Fabian Ruiz and Achraf Hakimi put PSG in control, and although Bukayo Saka reduced the deficit, the England winger squandered an open shot on goal, killing Arsenal's chances of a 'Remontada'. With their loss last night, Arsenal have now gone five whole seasons without winning any silverware, having last won the FA Cup in 2020. A seemingly upset Arteta, though, undertook a combative approach, only at the press box, as he remained defiant about Arsenal's superiority over the other teams in the Champions League so far. 'When you look at the two games, their best player on the pitch has been the goalkeeper (Donnarumma); he has been the difference for them in the tie," Arteta said. 'I'm very proud of the players. 100 percent, I don't think there's been a better team in the competition from what I have seen, but we are out. 'We were very close, much closer than the result showed, but unfortunately, we are out. 'We were very close, and for long periods of both games, we were much better than they were. But, we are not in the final, and that has to hurt." In what has become a predictable fashion, the Gunners failed to capitalize on their opportunities and their opponent's weaknesses when it mattered the most. To be fair to the Gunners, injuries to key players played a major role in their failure to push Liverpool in the Premier League title race. Although bitter in the moment, Arteta also praised his players for trying their best under the given circumstances and stayed hopeful about the future. 'The players deserve a lot of credit for what they are doing in the context of the situation and the amount of injuries, probably the worst state you could arrive here as a team," he said. 'You have to arrive in the competition at this stage with a full squad in the best condition, and we haven't got that. 'To come here with a different context and still do that, it gives me a lot of positives for the future. But tonight, I am very upset and annoyed that we didn't manage to do it." (with agency inputs) First Published: May 08, 2025, 09:29 IST
New York Times
30-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Arsenal suffered against Paris Saint-Germain – but this is a tie that is still alive
'We're at half-time.' That was Mikel Arteta's message to his players. They may have suffered a 1-0 defeat in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain, but Arsenal's manager was keen to emphasise that the tie remains very much alive. Given the way the game started and finished, Arteta may be relieved about that. PSG opened the scoring through Ousmane Dembele after just four minutes. It marked the start of a period of dominance for the away side which lasted a quarter of the game. Rarely have Arteta's Arsenal looked so clearly second best. Advertisement If the quarter-final triumph over Real Madrid had a dreamlike quality, this was a game in which Arsenal awoke to the harsh realities of the sharp end of the Champions League. Facing Madrid was a huge psychological test for this team. They had to overcome the badge, the Bernabeu, and a prophesied 'Remontada'. But from a tactical and technical perspective, PSG certainly appear to offer a greater challenge than Real ever posed. In the final throes, there were chances for the French champions to extend their lead. Substitutes Bradley Barcola and Goncalo Ramos will reflect on presentable opportunities to double their advantage. But in-between that early exhibit of intricate passing and devilish wide play and those late chances, Arsenal showed a capacity to adapt. They regained their footing, their composure, and had chances to draw level. PSG's quality is not in question, but they showed occasional vulnerability. Twice Arsenal released runners into the space behind Achraf Hakimi, but neither Gabriel Martinelli nor Leandro Trossard could beat the impressive Gianluigi Donnarumma. Mikel Merino thought he'd equalised by flicking home a Declan Rice free-kick, but VAR deemed him to be offside. It's difficult to draw sweeping conclusions from a tie that still has at least 90 minutes remaining. The margins are so fine. Had Martinelli or Trossard sent their shots an inch or two wider of Donnarumma's outstretched hand, the scenario might look very different. Had Merino held his run a fraction longer, the entire tie might have turned on its head. Whether those moments constitute signs for encouragement or cause for regret will be determined by events in Paris next week. 'This is elite football, and a few centimetres can determine your future,' Merino told Arsenal's official website. 'So, hopefully in the second leg, those 10 centimetres can go to our side.' Arteta made in-game adjustments to help Arsenal come to terms with PSG's threat. The Arsenal manager suggested the team corrected 'an issue' they had in the first 20 minutes which allowed them to stem the tide. He would not be drawn on the specifics — the contest is not over yet. The question now is whether Arsenal have what it takes to overcome the deficit. Perhaps they can draw inspiration from their female counterparts. Arsenal's women suffered a one-goal defeat in the home leg of their Champions League semi-final against another French side, Lyon. A 4-1 win in the away leg took Renee Slegers' team through to a first final in 18 years. It is 19 years since the men reached a Champions League final. To do so again they will need to be more efficient in front of goal, more wise to PSG's beguiling movement and intricate passing. They will have Thomas Partey back from suspension, affording them the opportunity to restore Merino to the central striking berth, and Declan Rice to the barnstorming box-to-box role he has made his own. They will need more from their captain, Martin Odegaard, who struggled to make an impression on this game. Advertisement They may not be able to afford another 20 minutes like the one that began this game. The first goal in Paris could well be pivotal. 'You have to do something special in the competition to have the right to be in the final,' said Arteta. 'And the time to do it is going to be in Paris.' He is right. But Arsenal have already produced special displays in the knockout stages of this tournament — a 7-1 victory at PSV Eindhoven, a pair of wins over Madrid. It's only half-time, and it's only a single goal. But if Arsenal are to overcome this deficit to reach the Champions League final, they might need their best performance of the lot. (Header photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
BBC News
17-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'A lid on the Rice helps it cook better' - fans' verdict on win over Real
We asked for your views on Arsenal's performance as they beat Real Madrid 2-1 in Wednesday's second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals to progress 5-1 on are some of your comments:Vince: Mikel Arteta got it spot on. He knew Real would throw themselves forward in mostly individualistic attacks and instead of parking the bus and slowing it down, he got our boys looking for the swift counter. We also looked fitter than Real over the whole 90-100mins, so kudos to the backroom fitness and conditioning team as well. What a victory but PSG will be a different proposition. Let's never rest on our Just stunning. Arteta's plan has played out well, and we just beat the champions. How's that! What a great team the lads have become. So happy for That was incredible! All the talk in the build up to the game about a Madrid comeback "Remontada", but Arsenal did exactly what they did in the first leg - played their game, and did it brilliantly. We defended so well when Madrid had their chances, and other than William Saliba's mistake, there weren't many! Bukayo Saka recovered from the penalty miss with a superb finish and Gabriel Martinelli finished it off. Stunning performance over the two legs - now bring on PSG in the semis!Decko: The early first goal was going to count for either side and had Saka's penalty gone in that would have knocked the stuffing out of Madrid and, likewise, had Madrid's penalty stood and been scored it would have created a different game and performance for them. Saka and Martinelli's goals were sheer class for this level. Wonderful evening for the Arsenal team, fans and supporters. Taste the victory and prepare for the I've been proud of the whole team for a long time but to beat the current European champions home and away blows my confidence through the roof. We are an amazing team with quality throughout. Declan Rice was a gladiator and our backline was outstanding. Well done, Are they Tottenham in disguise? What a performance from everyone - Rice in particular. A lid on the Rice helps it cook better. The only downside to this is Saka's penalty. Why would he try the panenka in those circumstances? However, he made up for it by scoring a chip in the second half! Mikel Merino with the double assist - absolutely brilliant as a centre-forward. Love it! On to Ipswich and then Paris! Want to shout out to an unsung hero - Jakub Kiwior. He was immense over both legs. We were gutted to lose Gabriel to injury before the tie but the giant Pole was superb.
