Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Alamy Stock Photo talking point The man who has brought soul to a once-soulless football project Manager Luis Enrique has had a profound impact on the PSG team. 11.39pm, 15 Apr 2025 Share options Paul Fennessy EIGHT YEARS ago, PSG were regarded by some as a footballing laughing stock. The French top flight is barely a competition these days. The country’s richest club by some distance recently won their 11th title in 13 seasons with six games to spare. So, their success tends to be measured purely by how they perform in the Champions League. The exit in the 2016-17 edition of Europe’s premier club competition during the round of 16 stage felt like the nadir for the club, at least since 2011, when they became majority-owned by Qatari government-backed investment fund Qatar Sports Investments. Having led 4-0 in the first leg, a late collapse meant they suffered an incredible 6-1 defeat in the return fixture — the score had only been 3-1 up until the 88th minute. That setback seemed to sum up everything that was wrong with the club. For all their talent, there was a kind of soulnessness to the project, which meant they often wilted in the pressure moments. On that occasion, Luis Enrique masterminded Barca’s improbable triumph, and Unai Emery was in the PSG dugout. On Tuesday night, the roles were reversed to a point, as Emery tried to inspire Aston Villa to an unlikely comeback against Enrique’s PSG. For a while, there were significant parallels with the French side’s unforgettable humiliation. The club’s fans would have been forgiven for suspecting they were witnessing a case of deja vu. After 27 minutes, Enrique’s men held a four-goal aggregate lead, just as PSG did after the first leg eight years ago. Advertisement Villa mounted an impressive comeback that would have been completed were it not for a combination of wasteful finishing and excellent goalkeeping by Gianluigi Donnarumma. And in the end, this time, PSG had the mentality to back up the talent and get over the line, albeit in nervy circumstances — in the dying seconds, defender Willian Pacho had to clear Ian Maatsen’s goalbound effort off the line. It might not have been entirely convincing from the French side’s perspective, but having invariably been on the wrong end of late Champions League drama in the past, they will take any victory they can get at this stage. Despite having never won the competition before, they will be many people’s favourites to prevail, particularly with holders Real Madrid on the verge of being knocked out after a 3-0 first-leg loss to Arsenal. The French champions certainly have the experience now. They have made the Champions League semi-finals in four of the last six seasons. Before then, in their 55-year history, they had only reached the final four once, in the 1994-95 campaign. The fact they widely perceived are the most feared side left in this year’s competition is a testament to Enrique’s impact since taking over as manager. For a long time, it was regarded as an impossible job, a managerial death trap. Over the years, several coaches who are still regarded among the best in the world, such as Emery, Carlo Ancelotti, Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino, have come and gone. Of that aforementioned quartet, only Tuchel lasted over two years and just by a couple of months. The failures tended to be attributed to star players’ egos being too strong for any manager, no matter how authoritative, to properly temper. Yet, Enrique has managed to succeed spectacularly where others have failed. The superstar era where the club encompassed an attack of Neymar, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe already feels like a long time ago. Mbappe only departed in July, but the way Enrique treated him before then served as a reminder of who was boss. The manager was not afraid to leave the star forward out of the team at times, and perhaps the loss of one of the world’s best players will be perceived as a blessing in disguise with time. The current PSG arguably have no one quite at Mbappe’s level, but similarly irrepressible talents like Ousmane Dembélé, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Bradley Barcola and Désiré Doué all have energy, pressing and sheer devotion to Enrique’s gameplan to match their skills. What’s most impressive about Enrique is that he has actually turned PSG into a somewhat likeable side, despite being a state-owned club that also represent the worst aspects of the modern game. With captions for you guyspic.twitter.com/riXcyiOTar— Young (@CFCyoung_) October 15, 2024 It helps that in addition to his coaching prowes — he has won numerous trophies as a player and coach, including the Champions League with Barca in 2015 — the Spaniard comes across as a remarkable human being. Enrique has spoken about the tragic loss of his nine-year-old daughter, Xana, who died from bone cancer in 2019. “I consider myself fortunate, very fortunate,” he said in a documentary last year. “My daughter Xana came to live with us for nine wonderful years. We have a thousand memories of her, videos, incredible things. “My mother couldn’t keep photos of Xana. “Until I came home and asked, ‘Why are there no photos of Xana, Mom?’ ‘I can’t, I can’t, she used to say. “‘Mom, you have to put up photos of Xana, Xana is alive,’ I replied.” Enrique continued: “Physically, she may not be here, but spiritually, she is. “Because every day we talk about her, we laugh, and we remember because I think Xana still sees us.” There are plenty of legitimate reasons to be cynical about modern sport and football in particular. But the fact that such an inspirational, resilient and humane person as Enrique is thriving at the highest level is one reason to be grateful. Paul Fennessy Viewcomments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “The man who has brought soul to a once-soulless football project”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “The man who has brought soul to a once-soulless football project”. 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