For a long time, Paris Saint-Germain was a collection of superstars, but now under Luis Enrique it’s a team with a clear identity and appear stronger as a result of the job done by their Spanish coach.
Having just clinched the Ligue 1 title, PSG moves on to a Champions League quarterfinal against Aston Villa in buoyant mood as it targets winning that competition for the first time.
The Qatar-backed outfit won a French league and cup double and reached the Champions League semifinals last season, in Luis Enrique’s first campaign, with Kylian Mbappe scoring 44 goals.
Mbappe’s prolific tally was all the more remarkable because he was left out of the team at times in the second half of the season after it became clear he would depart for Real Madrid.
Yet while many wondered how PSG could overcome losing their talisman, Luis Enrique continued to insist the future would be brighter.
“All I know is that if everything goes well, next season we will have a much better team in every aspect, attacking, defending, tactically. I have no doubts about that,” he said early last year.
The first months of this campaign were far from perfect amid Champions League defeats against Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich, as well as the coach’s refusal to play with a traditional center-forward, which led to Randal Kolo Muani being frozen out.
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