Opinion: Luis Enrique is one of the best managers of this century

The 2025 UEFA Champions League final presents Paris Saint-Germain’s Luis Enrique with an opportunity to complete a feat only achieved by an exclusive group of elite football managers.

Crowned a European champion as a manager in charge of Barcelona in 2015, Enrique is bidding to win the biggest prize on offer in club football with a second club when he leads out PSG against Inter at the Allianz Arena.

Only six men have previously managed two different clubs to the UEFA Champions League: Ernst Happel, Ottmar Hitzfeld, Jupp Heynckes, Carlo Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola.

Each of these managers have one thing in common; they are recognised as era-defining individuals in the history of the sport.

It is one thing to lead one club to the UEFA Champions League trophy, widely recognised as one of the most difficult titles to accrue, and it’s another task altogether to replicate this achievement again within a completely different environment at a new club.

This is the goal currently at the forefront of Spaniard Enrique’s mind as he plots a strategy to overcome a formidable Inter side assembled by the tactically savvy mind of Simone Inzaghi.

Should ex-Barcelona and Real Madrid player Enrique be successful in his pursuit of the 2025 UEFA Champions League with PSG, he must be recognised as one of the very best managers of his generation.

Finding balance in era of 'MSN'

Detractors of Enrique are likely to quickly point to the resources he had available to him during his tenure at Barcelona, with the Catalan giants blessed with an almost ridiculous forward line comprising of Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr and Luis Suarez.

However, if the last few years of the UEFA Champions League have proven anything, it is that the presence of A-list megastars does not guarantee success in the competition and that the construction of a tactically cohesive unit will always trump the talent of a certain few individuals.

Enrique’s current employers know this all too well, with PSG assembling their own Avengers-style frontline of the aforementioned Messi, Neymar as well as Parisian Kylian Mbappe in pursuit of their maiden UEFA Champions League crown.

The acquisitions of these three bona fide world stars ultimately proved to no avail for PSG, however, with a number of different distinguished managers including Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino, Christophe Galtier and Enrique himself failing to strike the correct balance required to deliver a much craved UEFA Champions League trophy.

Barcelona legend Enrique was able to find this balance to breathtaking effect during his tenure as manager at the Camp Nou, with the famous attacking trident of Messi, Suarez and Neymar – dubbed ‘MSN’ – ably supported by a well organised team unit behind them.

Delivering the continental Treble as Barcelona in 2015 – only the second time this feat had been achieved by the Catalans and eighth occasion any club European had managed it – Enrique’s charges were a sight to behold in full flow.

Messi, Suarez and Neymar’s combined tally of 122 goals in all competitions marked them out as the highest-scoring trio in Spanish football history.

Yes he was armed with the tools, but the history books will credit Enrique as the manager who presided over arguably one of the best club sides of all time at the Camp Nou over the course of the 2014/15 season.

Luis Enrique's Barcelona beat Juventus 3-1 in the 2015 UEFA Champions League final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, with Ivan Rakitic, Luis Suarez and Neymar Jr on the scoresheet for the Catalans.

Post-Mbappe dominance in Paris

Tasked with replicating his European success with Barcelona at PSG when appointed manager of Les Parisiens in the summer of 2023, it would have quickly become apparent to Enrique that capturing the UEFA Champions League trophy in the French capital would require a different approach.

His maiden season in France saw a Kylian Mbappe-inspired PSG claim the domestic Treble, but once again their quest for the UEFA Champions League would fall by the wayside as Borussia Dortmund proved too strong in the semi-finals.

The summer of 2024 would mark a sliding doors moment for Enrique’s PSG as talisman Mbappe elected to depart the club to sign for Real Madrid on a free transfer.

External to PSG this departure felt like a sizeable blow to the club’s chances of finally getting their hands on the UEFA Champions League trophy, but Enrique had other ideas.

With his team now without its undisputed star man and the forward through which much of PSG’s attacks revolved around, Enrique has been able to orchestrate the development of a far more well-rounded and fluid collective.

The post-Mbappe era in Paris can be acknowledged to have given rise to debatably the most impressive PSG side pieced together since the landscape-altering takeover from Qatar Sports Investment in 2011.

The success of this transition ought to be largely attributed to the leadership and tactics of Enrique.

Gone are the days in which PSG’s patterns of play are funnelled through individual stars, with this team instead characterised by its togetherness.

In attack, PSG line up with a fluid trio containing three of Ousmane Dembele, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Desire Doue and Bradley Barcola.

In as much as France international Dembele has taken on Mbappe’s mantle as PSG’s go-to man for goals and assists, he is by no means the sole talisman in a team littered with attacking talent.

Behind this front three is a midfield unit typically made up of Portuguese duo Vitinha and Joao Neves along with Spanish Euros winner Fabian Ruiz.

Possessing astonishing technical prowess and relentless energy in equal measure, this midfield triad has been fundamental to PSG’s success in Europe, with Enrique’s side capable of dominating the ball and pressing high out of possession to overwhelm opponents.

Illustrating just how much of a team effort PSG’s success has been under Enrique this term, the efficiency of their defence can also be acknowledged to have played a pivotal role.

Italy’s number one Gianluigi Donnarumma has strengthened his reputation as one of the best goalkeepers on the planet, the mobility and cleverness of skipper Marquinhos and rising Ecuadorian star Pacho have allowed PSG to utilise an aggressive high line, while swashbuckling full-back pair Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes are frequently as dangerous as the most talented wingers on the continent.

The loss of a figure as influential as Mbappe was at PSG – the World Cup winner scored 44 goals in all competitions for the club in the 2023/24 – would test any manager to their limit.

As Mbappe reflects on a trophyless first season at the Santiago Bernabeu, Luis Enrique is on the precipice of cementing his reputation as one of the best managers of this century.

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