A coaching great? Luis Enrique has PSG on brink of another Champions League final

PARIS – Luis Enrique will join a select group of coaching greats if he leads Paris Saint-Germain to Champions League glory again this season, and it is his remarkable management that has the French club tantalisingly close to reaching the final once again.

PSG head to Germany for the second leg of their semi-final against Bayern Munich on May 6, defending a 5-4 lead from an incredible first meeting which was one of the greatest matches in the competition’s history.

“It was the best game I have been fortunate enough to be involved in as a coach,” Enrique said after that encounter at the Parc des Princes.

He nevertheless believes his side will need to score another three goals at the Allianz Arena in order to see off the German champions and secure a place in the May 30 final in Budapest.

But he and his side need not look too far back for inspiration – their last visit to Munich ended in PSG hammering Inter Milan 5-0 in last season’s final, as they won the Champions League for the first time in their history.

Maybe, after all he has achieved in his career, Enrique could have simply walked away following that triumph, with his job done. But his motivation has remained intact this season.

“Last season we achieved the objective that everyone around us had been dreaming of. But we want to continue making history and that now means winning two Champions Leagues in a row,” said the Spaniard on the eve of this campaign.

He has now taken PSG to the Champions League semi-finals for the third time in as many seasons since being appointed in 2023.

Thanks to him, the Ligue 1 giants have moved on in spectacular fashion from the era of Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar, as well as regular European disappointments.

To put their consistency under Enrique into more context, before his arrival, PSG had reached the Champions League semi-finals three times in their history.

His success seems to come down to that motivation and an intensity of personality which comes across in the way his team play – high energy, incessant pressing, terrifying pace.

“He is the most positive person I have met in my life. He is always motivated and always in a good mood. We all learn from him and his way of seeing things,” said PSG’s Qatari president Nasser Al-Khelaifi.

His side also stand on the verge of another Ligue 1 title – albeit their financial advantage over the rest of France’s clubs makes that far less remarkable.

Enrique turns 56 on May 8 but that intensity also comes across in how he lives his life.

This is a man who has competed in triathlons and run several marathons – once going under the three-hour mark in Florence. Sometimes seen walking around the training ground barefoot, in September he fractured a collarbone after falling off his bike.

He was quickly over that injury and fully focused on PSG. So much so that the man, who played in three World Cups and coached Spain in Qatar at the 2022 edition, is apparently not remotely interested in the approaching tournament this summer.

“I am the coach of PSG. I don’t care about anything else. I’m not interested,” he said recently in response to one World Cup-related question.

The former Real Madrid and Barcelona midfielder really made his name as a coach when he led the Catalan side – featuring Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez – to a treble of the Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey in 2015.

This season his squad management has been remarkable, although undoubtedly helped by that margin PSG have in Ligue 1.

Captain Marquinhos, for example, has started more games in Europe than in Ligue 1. Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele has just nine starts in Ligue 1, as many as in the Champions League.

Meanwhile, the devastating Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has been arguably the best player in Europe’s elite club competition this season.

Up to now it has been a triumph of management, but the biggest test awaits in Munich on May 6.

If PSG can see off a brilliant Bayern team, Enrique will be a step closer to becoming just the fifth coach to win three European Cup or Champions League titles, after Carlo Ancelotti, Bob Paisley, Zinedine Zidane and Pep Guardiola. AFP