It’s official: PSG are European champions once again. Arsenal pushed them to the brink, but the Parisian squad won out on penalties, capturing a second-consecutive Champions League trophy. While the players deserve a ton of credit, manager Luis Enrique has rightfully earned endless praise after guiding the club to countless trophies since arriving.

The narrative following PSG’s Champions league triumph has turned, once again, to Kylian Mbappe. It’s no coincidence that PSG have won the Champions League twice in a row since Mbappe left, after coming up short in all of the player’s seven seasons with the club. Enrique, in fact, has already explained why he believes this has been the case.

Luis Enrique once said Kylian Mbappe didn’t allow him to control what was happening on the pitch

During an interview in the offseason after Mbappe signed with Real Madrid, Enrique delved deep into why he had a feeling the team was about to reach a new level without the star player.

Do I think I will do a better coaching job next year? Without a doubt. Because having a player that moves around wherever he want creates situations within the game that I can’t control. Next year I will control everything. Everything, without an exception.

That’s exactly what he did during the 2024-25 season, then followed it up with the same in 2025-26. It’s incredible the amount of conviction Enrique had when he made that statement, but he was completely convinced it would pan out like he expected.

While it’s a bad look for Mbappe, especially given that he hasn’t won anything with Real Madrid since joining from PSG, it simply shows that football is a true team sport. Enrique has PSG playing as a complete unit better than any other team in the world.