Better than Klopp & Guardiola  

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Paris Saint-Germain showed their ruthless efficiency on Wednesday night at the Allianz Arena as they dispatched German champions Bayern Munich, drawing 1-1 on the night to win 6-5 on aggregate and progress to the Champions League final. They will play Premier League leaders Arsenal in Budapest on May 30th. An early Ousmane Dembélé goal drew a line under proceedings and Bayern offered little response before a last minute fine finish from Harry Kane levelled things up on the night. It was a very professional away performance from the Parisians.

While there latest progression was certainly down to some exquisite individual performances from PSG’s star-studded squad, it was also further proof of the impressive stranglehold Luis Enrique has over the European competition. Despite the draw against Bayern only being Enrique’s 78th game in the Champions League, the Spanish tactician has already won the tournament twice and will be aiming to make it three at the end of the month.

Although Enrique may have taken something of a sabbatical from domestic football when he decided to coach the Spain national team between 2019 and 2022, his record in the Champions League remains formidable. This season’s campaign is his sixth across his time at Barcelona and now PSG and due to his success with both clubs, few managers can compete with Enrique’s record in the tournament. Across the 78 games he’s coached on Europe’s biggest stage, Enrique has won 50, drawn 10 and lost just 18. That gives the 55-year-old head coach a record of 2.05 points per game in the Champions League.

As we can see in the table above, Enrique’s record puts him above some truly impressive managers in the modern game when we compare his record to theirs, since Enrique first coached in the competition. The PSG manager currently boasts a better record than Jürgen Klopp (1.95), Julian Nagelsmann (1.96), Zinédine Zidane (2.02) and even Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, who sits just below his compatriot with a record of 2.02 points per game in the Champions League. As such, just two managers across all of European football has bested Enrique in the Champions League since 2014: Carlo Ancelotti with a record of 2.06 points per game and current Barca head coach Hansi Flick, who enjoys a truly impressive average of 2.30 points per game.