CNN Español
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In times where you talk about reinvention, Paris Saint Germain showed a clear example of how, on certain occasions, less is more.
The 2024/2025 version of the Parisian team achieved what other wealthy templates did not achieve: being in the UEFA Champions League final, next Saturday, May 31, an instance in which it will face Inter Milan.
There are three key elements that underwent this season to Luis Enrique’s team, which still has options to achieve the league triplet (which they already won a couple of weeks ago), Cup (the final will be a week before that of the Champions League) and the Champions League.
-The Spanish coach arrived at the club in 2023 and printed the intensity and pressure that characterizes his style of play, but in 2024, after the departure of Kylian Mbappé, he found answers in his squad revitalizing some names, and giving confidence to others. He trusted Bradley Barcola and Warren Zaïre-Emery, returned the confidence to Ousmane Dembélé and strengthened Nuno Mendes as part of his process. After some potholes at the beginning of the season, Luis Enrique managed to settle from January to make the full trip to the Champions League final.
The plan for this season was not just a matter of accumulating names. For Luis Enrique and the management that heads in the Luis Campos Sports Management, it was not only a matter of looking for “fat fish” in the market, but to bring players based on the benefit that team’s style would obtain. Thus came the Ecuadorian William Pacho, the central steering wheel Joao Neves, the end Desiréé Doué and the Georgian attacker Khvicha Kvarathskhelia, to give depth in all lines to the team. Everyone fulfilled the intensity that Luis Enrique demands in his approach.
In this Champions, the PSG entered through the back door to the final phase. He won 4, tied 1 and lost 3 in the group’s round and knew how to squeeze at the key moment of the season to get ahead. Luis Enrique gave with the key and the team entered the playoff, which passed without problems. In the next stage he fell with the favorite Liverpool in the first leg but recovered by winning him in Anfield, and then winning the tie against Aston Villa, despite falling on the way back, and carrying out the semifinal against Arsenal.
The “Austera” version of the PSG seeks that they tried so much with big names and money, and that this time, with football and a clear plan, they see more closely: their first title of the Champions League.
