Published July 13, 2025 – Updated July 13, 2025, 6:44 pm BST
Luis Enrique speaks ahead of the Club World Cup final. (Photo by Emilee Chinn - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
are a "team that is growing" with a manager whom he respects, and the blowout in the semi-final does not lead the Spaniard to think it will be a simple road to victory.
The manager made clear that winning was a necessity to end the 2024/25 season on the right note.
“Nobody knows how each team arrives. I don't know exactly the percentages, but it's not important. I hope we arrive at the last matches of the season with a very good feeling, with a very good year, and it's important for us to finish this historic season in the best possible way. It’s very important for us.”
would be the fifth title that the team has earned in 2025. Few clubs can claim to have achieved so much success in such a short period, and Enrique is enjoying the moment.
“From the beginning of the month, it's sensational. Throughout the year, I think we've had incredible performances. Now we are on the mark of history in Paris, and we want to continue to make history and try to win matches. And if I analyse the whole season, I think that it has been extraordinary.”
Enrique takes great pleasure in proving the doubters wrong after the exit of
. Yet, the Spaniard does not seek to take attention from the players, whom he believes should be centre stage.
“I was not a star as a player; I am not a star as a coach. I like the work I do. I enjoyed my career as a player, as a coach I am enjoying it. Especially these delicate moments when things are not good. It is beautiful when things work because of the capacity that our work has to make many people happy.”
The Parisian project long yearned for big egos and star names. So, it is ironic that this success has come without one outstanding figurehead who hogs all the limelight. Yet, that is not to dismiss the quality in their ranks: it is a side with eleven stars rather than one star who shines above the eleven.
“We are a team with 11 stars, that's football. 11 stars. We don't want just one, we want 11. That is what we have together right now. We want 13, 14, 15. That's the goal we have. I believe that it is a commitment that we acquired from the side of the sports management, the President, the board, to seek 11 or 15 stars and the true star is the team, something with which our fans have identified.”
The 55-year-old offered a comparison through the critical role of the fans in creating a cauldron.
aficionados who is the star, no. It is all the countryside, the whole park, the
. And it is something that since the very first day we arrived in Paris we have shared well, and I believe that it is something that represents our club now.”
in the previous round and wreaked havoc, scoring and assisting the first two goals. As a central forward, he has emerged as the talisman of a team.
“I don't believe in individual awards. Much less so for a coach. The team is always on top of the individuals and in this sense, I believe that PSG is a reference of what we try to transmit and without doubting that Ousmane as the best player of the season for what he has achieved individually.”
. The Spaniard shone at the Euros last summer and has earned appreciation as one of the best midfielders in the world. The talent of the 29-year-old, whom his compatriot coached in the Spanish national team, has never been in doubt.
“In terms of Fabian, he is a particular case because he had some problems about two years ago but in this moment, I think that he is indisputably important to the team, and he is clearly a top player.”
His ascent has gone hand in hand with the group as he quietly conducts in the middle of the park.
“I believe that these words that you said about Fabian, we can say them of practically a few players of
. This is the team's team. I believe that all the players and at this moment of the season, we had players that did not play but helped the team at all times and for me that is key.”
Enrique then talked more about the opponents who stand in the way of more silverware:
, it is a team that is growing, it is a team with many good players individually and with great work from its coach,
are as a young group with an inexperienced manager. But they have ended the season strongly. A top-four finish for the first time in three years preceded a 4-1 victory in the final of the
“We are ready, they are ready and both of us had won trophies in this season: the
for us, I think that this is going to be really interesting match.”
Even though this is the first job that Maresca has held as a manager of a
outfit, he was not new to English football. He worked with the youth ranks at
. His counterpart credited him for how he has approached his role of responsibility.
“He is a coach I really like for what he proposes. He tries to play from behind, he uses players with a very high technical profile, he always wants to attack, he always pressures. They are a very complete team that finished in the top four of the
Enrique expects one more tough test when the two teams meet each other at the
his manager, I think he's one of the most attractive managers to watch his team of course the way they play the way they attack and the way they defend, and you can clearly appreciate their level on the ball and off the ball. It's going to be difficult because I think we are similar in the most important aspect of the play. I think that it is] going to be an interesting match.”
Paris Saint-Germain vs Chelsea Preview: FIFA Club World Cup Final, 2025
Four things we learnt from Chelsea's semi-final victory over Fluminense
Rachel Yankey backs Play Their Way’s child-first coaching approach to keep girls in the game
is a global sports multi-platform and media company that operates with its own technology. VAVEL is the go-to source to consult for its wide coverage of sport around the world.
VAVEL are among the federally registered trademarks of Etemenanki Technology, SL and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission.