Luis Enrique’s young and vibrant PSG side are turning heads with their exuberant brand of football. They’ve already wrapped up the Ligue 1 title with six games left to spare and they face Aston Villa in the Champions League quarter-finals this week. So, is Enrique one of the most underrated coaches of the modern era?
Ayo Akinwolere is joined by The Athletic’s Spanish football writer Dermot Corrigan and French football writer and broadcaster Tom Williams.
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:36 PSG’s unbeaten season
00:05:57 The talent at PSG
00:12:06 Luis Enrique’s culture change
00:16:50 Is Luis Enrique underrated?
00:24:14 Ousmane Dembélé
00:31:00 Vitinha and João Neves
00:37:27 PSG’s UCL hopes
00:41:47 Outro
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24 Comments
He's a top manager. Should have beaten Italy as spain manager in the euros semi if he made better subs and would have beat england too in the final.
He's underrated only because he took a break from managing and people's memories are very short.
Arteta and Enrique are so similar in terms of the way they see the game
What have they achieved better than the superstars
Guys. With all due respect. It’s still “Guardiola” (Goo-Ar-Diola), not “Gardiola”.
As someone who’s followed PSG for years, this season feels different—in the best way. It’s no longer about just the flashy names or marketing hype. You can actually feel the team now. Luis Enrique deserves a ton of credit. He’s taken what used to be a group of stars and shaped it into a real unit with grit, purpose, and actual chemistry. The podcast really highlighted this shift well. When Tom and Derma talked about cultural change, that hit hard. For the first time, PSG isn’t just “playing well,” they’re playing with identity.
The superstar era gave the club exposure, sure—but it also made them vulnerable, especially in the Champions League. Now, they’re not relying on one or two players to bail them out. They press together, they fight together. It's not perfect yet—they still have to win the Champions League to really silence the critics—but you can see they’re building something long-term, not just chasing short-term glory.
Honestly, I haven't been this excited about PSG in years. If they keep this momentum, we might finally see them break the curse and lift that Champions League trophy. Fingers crossed. Amazing episode. Keep them coming!
PSG have 5× the budget of their nearest rivals in France & have one of the highest revenue streams in world football, also a massive €2.5 billion has been spent since the Qatar sovereign wealth fund bought the club,so you'd expect them to be half decent,but they've still never been crowned champions of Europe to date. Outside of the one club dominated french football they haven't achieved anything yet after huge amounts of oil money have been invested & before the oil money built PSG up to the club it is now they didn't do much of any note,a cup winners cup which was the 3rd European trophy like the current europa conference league is now or the equivalent in European competitions,i think only founded in 1970,so not an historical club by any means. 😂
PSG v Barca final would be insane.
Luis Enrique was a great player and a better Manager
Every team and coach outside EPL is underrated in the English-speaking world, you can only call everybody "farmers" and think that if Newcastle or Arsenal win 5 games in a row they're the best teams in Europe. And can't see how stong Inter has been for the last 3 years, literally better than any English team over the period, or the amazing Bayern Munich under Flick who were the closest thing to Pep's Barcelona.
Just completely discounted Arsenal, amazing journalism 😂
Enrique never won the Champions League as a player.
Dembele, Raphinha experiencing new fortunes
Both were unwanted at Barcelona, one stage
Hate this narrative that PSG has stopped spending like they've done before. Since this narrative started they've signed (at a quick glance)
RKM – €80m
Ramos – 80m
Kvara – 70m
Neves – 70m
SO MANY €40-50m players
You man are really really good at what y'all do – sick analysis!
saying neymar didn’t defend is absolutely insane. that guy worked his socks off off the ball
He has changed also. He used to try to overcontrol and ask his players to avoid any risk, keeping control on the ball without being able to move low defenses like against Morocco. And it looks like he understood that lesson. At psg, he changed the type of control he wants. He introduced more direct plays and more creativity in offensive positions. Without mbappe, neymar or messi, he can also ask the young promising players to press, to play as a team, without any individual diva avoiding collective work. He learned from his errors and he is doing a great job with a very talented young group. He imposed a discipline, a team spirit and a winning spirit to this group.
Luis Enrique came to Barca after Cruyff left. He started under Bobby Robson an then had Louis Van Gaal.
No
Only england & english fans
@4:30 he ran into some problems with Dembele too at the beginning of the season.
I am an American who visited Highbury in 2003/04. I’ve been a GUNNER ever since. But I must say PSG, at present time, is a monster unlike any other the lads from north London have met before. It’s going to be an epic battle for an injury torn, constantly changing Arsenal side. Respect to PSG for proving to the world of football that this is a TEAM sport.
Couldn’t agree more with the comment at 9:50. My European friends may not care or even be aware of what Messi has meant to Miami and the entire MLS. I believe his stardom (and Mbappe and Neymar) propelled PSG into super club status.
Thanks for the education