PSG’s rise: How Enrique’s vision and Mbappé’s departure led to success

Ousmane Dembele celebrates after scoring

Liverpool 0 (1), PSG 1 (4)

Will this finally be the year for Paris Saint-Germain?

The year when more than a decade of spending lavishly on players can at last bring the Qatari-backed French club its first Champions League title?

The signs are there for all to see. This rejuvenated PSG side is rock-solid and playing some of the best football in Europe. Luis Enrique’s players’ defeat of favorites Liverpool in the last 16 tie yesterday [Macau time] at Anfield after a thrilling penalty shootout showed that anything is now possible for PSG.

Here is a look at the reasons behind PSG’s gradual progress this season, and how they knocked out Europe’s top team after trailing 1-0 from the first leg in Paris to advance to the quarterfinals.

It’s ironic, but the first stone was laid with the departure from PSG of one of the best players in the world.

Kylian Mbappé’s decision to leave for Real Madrid last summer opened the door for Enrique to impose his views that a well-oiled team playing as a unit would be more efficient than a squad relying on the genius of the France forward.

The big hole left by Mbappé was not filled by yet another superstar. It was a major change at a club where for more than a decade owners had spent lavishly to attract big names such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Lionel Messi and Neymar.

Instead, Enrique insisted on moulding what he had. His thinking made sense. If Mbappé can’t be duplicated, he could be replaced by a handful of attacking players capable of scoring as much, or more, than the France captain did.

PSG still has an ample amount of superstar quality — Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to name a couple — but there is a sense of unity that wasn’t always evident in the previous “galactico”-filled teams.

Enrique asked for the recruitment of lesser known but excellent players across the squad to create competition and have second options at every position. It was seen as an astute move in a season with more requirements as the Champions League’s new format saw more teams playing more games.

PSG signed goalkeeper Matvey Safonov to challenge Gianluigi Donnarumma, highly-rated defender Willian Pacho and promising midfielder João Neves, as well as teenager Désiré Doué, the talented winger who scored the winning penalty at Anfield.

The addition during the winter transfer window of Kvaratskhelia from Napoli added more creativity to a team that attacks with great fluidity and imagination, and defends as a hard-working unit.

“I think that for the upcoming games in the Champions League, we can improve still further,” said PSG captain Marquinhos, who has been playing at PSG for more than 10 years, after the win against Liverpool. “All the messages are being sent on the pitch. That’s what we’re doing this year. The team is showing it has character, personality, even though it’s very young. We have a collective that is our strength now.”

In September, PSG labored to a 1-0 win over Girona relying on a late own goal for the victory, and the Ligue 1 leaders then managed just one point from their next four Champions League games, with losses to Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich.

At some point, it looked like PSG would not even progress from the group stage. But Enrique argued that he was building for the future and that the poor results did not reflect the quality of his wasteful side. PSG’s last three group stages — three consecutive wins capped by 11 goals — proved him right.

Without Mbappé, more players have been sharing scoring duties, with Dembélé, Bradley Barcola, Gonçalo Ramos, Doué and Vitinha gelling into an awe-inspiring attacking outfit.

Dembélé’s scintillating form has added an extra dimension. The France forward, who was snubbed by Enrique earlier this season, has become a scoring machine. Dembélé has notched 21 goals in all competitions for PSG so far in 2025, at least six more than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues. SAMUEL PETREQUIN, MDT/AP