From Crisis to Crown: PSG’s Stunning Evolution Under Luis Enrique
The last time they met, Vincent Kompany was stepping into a new chapter, while Luis Enrique seemed to be closing his. It was late November at the Allianz Arena, and Bayern Munich's then-new boss stood outside the press room, listening to Enrique address the media as manager of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). Kompany, recalling the moment in Atlanta months later, couldn’t hide his surprise. “It was way over the top,” he said. Fast forward seven months and 7,000 miles, and the narrative has completely flipped.
That night, Bayern edged PSG 1-0 in the Champions League, and the French side looked shaky. After five matches, PSG had just one win—against Girona at home—and were dangerously close to a group stage exit. “People were saying it was over,” Kompany recalled. “They were dominating games but still losing or drawing. And yet, here we are—consistency paid off. That’s not a compliment. That’s a fact.”
And the fact is, PSG are now Champions of Europe, having sealed the title with the biggest winning margin ever in a final. As they prepare for the Club World Cup quarter-final in Atlanta, Kompany calls it a “perfect storm”—a match he’d pay to watch if he wasn’t coaching. PSG aren’t just favorites for this tournament—they’ve built a structure to dominate for years.
“They’re an incredible team,” Kompany admitted. “But more than that, they play as a unit. I haven’t seen many teams with this level of intensity in every phase. This is a squad that has tasted success, and there’s no reason to think they’ll slow down now. If I had to pick one team to face, it would be the winners—and they are the winners.”
Kompany praised PSG’s style—a blend of tactical intelligence, raw talent, and strong principles. “Tactics change game to game. But principles? Those stay.” It’s these unshakeable values that Kompany believes set PSG apart. He compared them to Bayern, calling both clubs’ philosophies “quite extreme”—high pressing, relentless running, and uncompromising intensity.
An emblem of that ethos? Ousmane Dembélé—poised like a sprinter on the edge of the box, hounding down goalkeepers. After the final, Luis Enrique boldly declared he’d give Dembélé the Ballon d'Or. Not just for his goals, but for his pressing, his defending, his leadership.
That mindset mirrored a scene from the powerful documentary No Tenéis Ni Puta Idea, where Luis Enrique compares Kylian Mbappé to Michael Jordan, emphasizing how Jordan’s greatness came not from points, but his defensive tenacity. When PSG were eventually knocked out in a previous season and it was clear Mbappé would leave, Enrique’s message was simple: next season will be better—because now he controls everything.
And that includes the club’s culture. For once, PSG's hierarchy is aligned. Nasser Al-Khelaifi, speaking after a training session outside Atlanta, summed it up perfectly: “We have 23 or 24 warriors fighting for their coach. Their motivation is to give everything in every game.”
Asked again about Dembélé and the Ballon d’Or, Al-Khelaifi doubled down: “If he doesn’t win it, that’s the Ballon d’Or’s problem. He’s a star—but the real star is the team.”
Despite the discipline and drive, there’s a lightness to this PSG too—a visible sense of joy. Dembélé is doing things he never used to do. Why? Because he loves it. Because football is fun. That, Enrique insists, is a principle too.
“Players understand the demands. When they give everything for the team, the responsibility becomes shared. Freedom means fighting for your teammates, for your club, for the badge,” Enrique explained. “And by ‘fighting,’ I mean playing beautiful football. That’s what we strive for. Not just to win, but to put on a show.”
Luis Enrique is clear: football is a fiesta. It should be enjoyable, even when it’s serious business. “It’s simple, yet so difficult. Saying it is easy—doing it is hard,” he noted. When asked about the role of enjoyment, he didn’t hesitate: “That’s the key to everything. Every club I’ve coached, I tell them: our goal is to entertain. People don’t go to the cinema to get bored.”
Winning matters, of course—but how you win matters just as much. PSG are not just lifting trophies—they’re playing a brand of football the whole world can admire.