Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique said facing former player Lionel Messi will be an “emotional” reunion for both himself and the French club ahead of Sunday’s Club World Cup clash against Inter Miami.
Argentine great Messi joined PSG in 2021 from Barcelona, where Luis Enrique had coached him and several other current Inter Miami players.
The forward departed in 2023, the same summer the Spaniard arrived at PSG, having won two Ligue 1 titles but failed to bring the French club the Champions League triumph they craved.
Luis Enrique eventually led PSG to European success this season as they won the trophy for the first time by thrashing Inter Milan on May 31.
“I think the game in an emotional sense is special for me, without a doubt, for the club too and the players who have been here with Messi,” Luis Enrique told a news conference Saturday.
The coach said he was also excited about facing Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Inter Miami boss Javier Mascherano, all of whom he coached at Barcelona as they won the treble in 2015.
“It’s beautiful to see these players, who are more than just players for me, it will be special before and after the game,” he continued ahead of the match in Atlanta.
Luis Enrique said Messi’s presence would be a motivating factor for his PSG side, who are one of the leading favourites to win the competition.
“If we can’t get the ball off them it won’t look good for us, because Busquets is still the same, Lionel Messi with the ball is unique,” he said.
“Luis Suarez, you saw the last goal he scored… and on top of that they have a coach like Mascherano…
“For us it’s very motivating. We won the Champions League recently, but for us we have a lot of hunger still to show we have room to improve, that we want to compete.
“There’s no better stage to compete than in this marvellous stadium, facing a team in which there is a man who is called Leo Messi, who is a revered figure not just for Barca fans, but people who enjoy him as a player.”
– No ‘slip-ups’ –
Luis Enrique said star PSG forward Ousmane Dembele had trained this week but he would “take no risks” with the French winger for the last-16 clash at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
After Botafogo stunned PSG in the group stage and Inter Miami surprised with a 2-1 win over Porto, Luis Enrique called on his players to maintain their concentration.
“When you play in these type of competitions, and I know it perfectly well from coaching the Spanish national team, you cannot slip up whatsoever,” said Luis Enrique.
“You cannot pause, you cannot be excessively confident, you can’t do anything wrong because 90 minutes go by very quickly, and I think it’s important that from the start we try and make our mark, impose our game and that’s our objective.”
The coach said the way to try and shackle Messi was collectively, rather than individually.
“Messi can dribble (past) any player,” added Luis Enrique.
“If we want to stop Leo Messi, we don’t want only one player, because we are dead — we need the collective.”
