Luis Enrique’s PSG seeks a place in history alongside Real Madrid, Ajax and Bayern

Three consecutive European titles have been achieved only by Real Madrid, Ajax and Bayern Munich. From tomorrow, Paris Saint-Germain will try to join that exclusive group under Luis Enrique.

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The past is the past, you have to renew your driving licence every year. Everyone is motivated to play against us. We have to accept that and leave our comfort zone. I am ready to prove that you have to reinvent yourself every day.

The challenge comes in the coach’s fourth season, after PSG won two Champions League titles in a row, against Inter Milan in 2025 and Arsenal in 2026. Luis Enrique said the team could not live on its past achievements. “The past is the past, you have to renew your driving licence every year,” he said before PSG’s opening match against Slovan Bratislava at the Parc des Princes. “I am ready to prove that you have to reinvent yourself every day.”

PSG has reshaped its squad according to the former Spain coach’s preferences. Bradley Barcola left for Liverpool in a deal worth 140 million euros, while Ferran Torres arrived from Barcelona, France international Maghnes Akliouche joined from Monaco and Belgian player Mika Godts came from Ajax.

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If we only take the results into account, it is catastrophic.

Luis Enrique continues to reject guaranteed starters. He wants a team that is predictable to him but unpredictable to opponents, built around constant positional changes, the midfield trio of Joao Neves, Vitinha and Fabián Ruiz, and centre-backs Marquinhos and Willian Pacho. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and 2025 Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé remain key sources of attacking threat, although both have made slow starts, especially Dembélé.

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I put pressure on all the time. I would like to be among the top eight and avoid the playoffs.

The Parisian machine has yet to fully take off. Two draws and a defeat in Ligue 1 have alarmed Luis Enrique, who called the results “catastrophic” if viewed alone. PSG also began its previous two Champions League-winning campaigns outside the top eight in the league phase, improving only from February onward. The coach wants to avoid that late rise this time, but warned that qualifying among the top eight, or even the top 24, will be difficult against rivals such as Barcelona, Manchester City, Roma and Aston Villa. He described Slovan Bratislava, coached by Yaya Touré and featuring Panamanian players César Blackman and Cristian Jesús Martínez, as an apparently easy opponent, while insisting that “there are no easy matches.”

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We are going to play an apparently easy match, but there are no easy matches. We have to stay focused.