The Japan Times - Luis Enrique's PSG eye greatness with back-to-back Champions Leagues in sight

Twelve months after crushing Inter Milan 5-0 in Munich to take the trophy with the biggest win in the final in European Cup history, PSG head to Budapest to face Premier League champions Arsenal.

Stopping Luis Enrique's thrilling PSG side has proven impossible for everyone over the last 18 months, from Pep Guardiola's Manchester City to Bayern Munich in their recent semi-final clash.

Arsenal tried, and failed, in last season's semis, and the Parisians are the favourites to retain their title this time.

"We understand that we are the reigning champions and we can win again," Khvicha Kvaratskhelia said in an interview with UEFA.

"Of course this will be difficult, but we've proved once more that we can beat any team as long as we play our way and give our all on the pitch," added the Georgian winger, surely the best player in this season's Champions League with seven goals and three assists in the knockout rounds.

When Luis Enrique, a Champions League winner with Barcelona in 2015, arrived in 2023, PSG were transitioning away from the era of splashing vast sums on superstar players.

Lionel Messi and Neymar left that same summer, ending underwhelming spells in the French capital. Kylian Mbappe departed a year later.

PSG had been completely transformed since the Qatari takeover of the club in 2011 but -– one run to the final in 2020 and a semi-final in 2021 apart -- they had become associated with frequent disappointment in the Champions League, and occasional humiliation.

Luis Enrique has overseen a radical change, completely altering perceptions of the club outwith France.

- 'Keep writing history' -

PSG were almost once seen as a little bit of a joke in Europe due to their enormous spending and lack of continental success.

Now they are taken very seriously and have won admirers for the breathtaking football played by an exciting young team, built with the transfer market nous of their "football advisor" Luis Campos and coached by Luis Enrique.

"He is a top-class coach with clear ideas. He is full of energy. He is exceptional and we hope he will stay for a very long time," said Ousmane Dembele.

The France forward has been transformed from dazzling but often wasteful winger into a prolific striker.

He scored 35 times last season and won the Ballon d'Or. This season his minutes have been carefully managed amid numerous fitness scares, but he has still scored 19 goals and set up 11 more in just 24 starts.

Dembele, at 29, is the fourth-oldest player in the squad, behind only Fabian Ruiz, Lucas Hernandez (both 30) and 32-year-old captain Marquinhos.

The youthful energy all over the team allows them to play with a terrifying intensity that has blown away most opponents.

Things might not be so easy against Arsenal but PSG have already reached three consecutive semi-finals under Luis Enrique. Before his arrival they had got to the semis three times in their history.

Getting to consecutive Champions League finals is incredibly hard, but retaining the title is almost impossible.

Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid side that won three on the bounce from 2016-18 is the only side to have gone back-to-back in the modern Champions League era -– before them you have to go back to Arrigo Sacchi's AC Milan in 1989 and 1990.

Within a French context, the country had only ever produced one Champions League winner before last season, with Marseille in 1993.

This is not a fairytale story for a club backed by the wealth of Qatar and with the fourth-highest revenue in world football last year according to the Deloitte Football Money League, behind only Real, Barcelona and Bayern.

But it shows they did the right thing in abandoning the old superstar project, even if plenty of their current squad -– Dembele, Kvaratskhelia, Vitinha, Achraf Hakimi –- should really be considered as superstars.

The true superstar now is the coach, and Luis Enrique can become just the fifth manager to win three European Cups after Carlo Ancelotti, Bob Paisley, Zidane and Guardiola.

“When I came to the club I said my objective was to make history," he told UEFA.com

"We want to keep writing history because we feel there are still things to be achieved."

Y.Kimura--JT