Who’s the most effective supervisor in world soccer? It is honest to say that there are fairly a number of legitimate choices.
Carlo Ancelotti has received the championship in every of Europe’s high 5 leagues, in addition to 5 Champions League titles. Pep Guardiola has constructed dynasties in Spain, England and Germany. Antonio Conte has reworked Italian groups like Juventus and Napoli from underachievers to title winners. Diego Simeone has turned Atletico Madrid right into a worldwide powerhouse.
Nonetheless, one supervisor who has definitely made his method into that dialog is Paris Saint-Germain boss Luis Enrique, ranked at no.1 in FourFourTwo’s checklist of the most effective managers on this planet proper now.
10 years after guiding Barcelona to the treble, Enrique led PSG to a treble in his second season on the helm, placing an finish to their long-awaited seek for a primary Champions League trophy.
Born in Gijon, Spain, Enrique rose by the ranks at Sporting Gijon’s academy and represented the primary group earlier than finally taking his abilities to Actual Madrid in 1991. After 5 years within the Spanish capital, Enrique made the transfer to Barcelona, the place he emerged as a flexible cog in midfield and assault, scoring 108 objectives in 300 matches.
After retiring from soccer in 2004, Enrique would quickly make the bounce into administration, changing Guardiola as Barcelona B supervisor in 2008, the place he guided them again to the Spanish second tier after an 11-year absence.
“The very best group that I coached, or at the least the one which I loved essentially the most, was Barcelona B,” Enrique tells FourFourTwo now. “They have been my first three years as a supervisor, and it was the group the place I felt the most effective, the place I realized essentially the most, and the place I might develop what I wished to be as a coach even with out having expertise.”
In 2011, Enrique departed for Italy, turning into Roma’s head coach. He struggled to persuade within the capital, strolling away after one season after failing to information them to European qualification – then after a year-long sabbatical, he returned to administration in 2013 and joined Celta Vigo, the place he fared significantly better and led them to ninth within the desk.
It was sufficient to see Barcelona appoint him as their new supervisor, changing Tata Martino on the helm. Regardless of a shaky begin to proceedings, Enrique managed to work his magic as Barcelona received the La Liga title and Copa del Rey, in addition to their final Champions League title so far. All in all, he received 9 trophies earlier than strolling away in 2017.
He then turned supervisor of the Spain nationwide group, the place, regardless of managing to make seen strides, he was unable to information them to a significant last. Again-to-back penalty shootout defeats to Italy within the 2021 Euros in addition to Morocco within the 2022 World Cup would see him lose his job – nevertheless, he could be out of labor for less than a few months earlier than PSG got here calling.
Enrique’s first season accountable for PSG would see them declare a home treble and attain the Champions League semifinals, solely to lose to Borussia Dortmund. Regardless of dropping all-time main scorer Kylian Mbappe to Actual Madrid, PSG managed to succeed in one other degree in 2024/25, going unbeaten of their first 28 league matches and successful one other home treble.
PSG seemed in peril of lacking out on the Champions League knockout spherical after a dismal run of kind that noticed them accumulate one level from 4 matches; they’d bounce again in stellar style by beating Purple Bull Salzburg, Manchester Metropolis and Stuttgart, earlier than demolishing Brest 10-0 within the knockout spherical playoffs.
Les Parisiens would then edge Liverpool on penalties and narrowly brush previous Aston Villa earlier than beating Arsenal 3-1 on combination. 5 years after reaching their first Champions League Closing, PSG have been lastly again on the largest stage in membership soccer. This time, they did not let it slip, demolishing Inter 5-0 to develop into the second French aspect to win the European Cup.
However somewhat than having fun with the complete summer time and spending their holidays celebrating the triumph, PSG needed to return to motion shortly after, thrashing Atletico Madrid 4-0 of their Membership World Cup opener. They have been then shocked in a 1-0 defeat to Botafogo, however they’d nonetheless bounce again with a 2-0 win in opposition to Seattle Sounders.
On Sunday, PSG confronted off in opposition to Inter Miami in Atlanta within the Spherical of 16. Dealing with off in opposition to Miami coach Javier Mascherano in addition to Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba – all of whom made up Barcelona’s 2014/15 treble-winning aspect – PSG delivered a ruthless efficiency and located themselves 4 objectives to the nice going into halftime, securing a 4-0 victory.
Paris Saint-Germain have already confirmed their value as European champions, however can they affirm their standing as world champions? So as to take action, they will first want to barter a tough quarter-final conflict with German champions Bayern Munich in Atlanta on Saturday.
