Luis Enrique Transforms PSG into a Unified Team

Achraf Hakimi leans back, smiles, and sums up the revolution in one line: “Luis Enrique? He has changed everything at PSG.”

It sounds like a slogan. In Paris, it feels like a statement of fact.

Enrique’s PSG, rebuilt from the inside

Under Enrique, Paris Saint-Germain have stopped behaving like a collection of superstars and started acting like a football team. The results are written across the honours board: three straight Ligue 1 titles and the 2024-25 Champions League already in the bag. A second European crown in as many seasons is now within touching distance, with Arsenal waiting in Budapest.

Hakimi has lived that transformation up close, and he doesn’t hide how deeply it has cut.

“Since he arrived, everyone has changed their mentality: now we are a team, we play for each other, we run for each other, we are a family,” he told Sky Sport. “Playing like this, everything becomes easier. I am lucky to be in this team, with these teammates, and this coach. He changed my mentality and my way of being on the pitch. He has made me better as a footballer and as a man.”

This is not the polished corporate line of a modern club. It’s a senior player describing a dressing room that has stopped orbiting around individuals and started moving as one.

From injury scare to Budapest boost

A few weeks ago, the picture looked less clear. Hakimi limped out of action against Bayern Munich, and an anxious murmur ran through Paris. Losing their rampaging right-back before a Champions League final would have been a brutal twist.

Those fears didn’t last.

Enrique, typically calm, shut down the speculation in his pre-final press conference. “Everyone is ready. Everyone arrives in a different way,” he said, before outlining a week built on rotation, rest and detailed work on the fine margins at both ends of the pitch. “The rest is the sun in Paris and Budapest.”

For PSG, it is a massive boost. Hakimi has been electric this season: three goals and nine assists in 31 appearances, a constant outlet and a relentless runner on the right flank. Across his time in Paris, the numbers are even more striking – 28 goals and 44 assists in 206 games from full-back. Those are not supporting statistics; they are the output of a player who shapes matches.

He knows exactly what this stage means.

“Being in the final again? I think it is a very beautiful achievement,” he said. “It was not an easy path and we are proud to have reached the end of the competition again. But now we must not lose focus because Arsenal are a truly strong opponent.”

No swagger, no complacency. Just a clear-eyed view of the task ahead.

A Paris star with Milan in his heart

As Budapest looms, Hakimi’s thoughts still drift back to Italy. His career took a decisive leap there, at Inter, where he arrived from Real Madrid in September 2020 and exploded down the right side of Antonio Conte’s team. By July 2021, PSG had paid a reported €68 million to bring him to the Parc des Princes.

The bond with Inter never snapped.

“Yes, I am an Interista and I am very happy for the championship and the Coppa Italia,” he admitted, reacting to the Nerazzurri’s recent domestic double. The ties go beyond nostalgia. “If I have spoken to anyone? I wrote to Lautaro, I get along very well with him.”

There is affection in his voice when he talks about Milan. But there is no doubt about his present, or his priority.

Hakimi stands now as a leader in a PSG side that has finally found a collective soul under Enrique. One club in his heart, another chasing Europe’s biggest prize with him at full throttle down the right. The question is no longer whether he belongs on this stage.

It’s whether Arsenal can find a way to stop a player who feels he is exactly where he is meant to be.