How Paris Saint-Germain made the Champions League final and got better without Kylian Mbappe

It has not always been a smooth ride, but after beating Arsenal 2-1 (3-1 on aggregated), Paris Saint-Germain is in The Champions League Finalwhere they are confronted on 31 May Paramount+. But during the competition phase, this same PSG side barely demolished in the knockout play-offs, who had to win their last three games of the phase to stay inside. But the attack was able to gelter, and they had a big addition to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia during the January transfer window to place them across the top.

It was enough to see PSG itself stable, and now they are the last team that remains a chance on a Treble with a European continental title.

It has been an impressive run of the Parsian, but what have some keys this season has been to that success?

Have faith in Luis Enrique

One thing that is crucial for PSG is that they have a manager who has been there and has done that in Luis Enrique. He not only won a Treble with Barcelona as a manager, but also had strong performance with the Spanish national team, which he led from 2018-2022 before resigning. It wasn’t long before PSG Tab Enrique took over the helm, and what he did is pretty impressive. He plays front-foot football that is pleasant to see, such as the Barcelona parties he has managed, but sometimes this Saint-Germain side of Paris is fluent. The midfield of Joao Neves, Vitinha and Fabian Ruiz can play so many roles and at the same time let Nuno Mendes and Achraf Hakimi go.

Enrique also has experience in preparing big competitions, so there is no situation he has never experienced before. That calmness shows in his team, where even when PSG remains, they are able to stay with their principles and get back into things, even while they change the schedule.

Kylian Mbappe replaced

By continuing with a star is not easy, and this season it has not been as flexible as a ride like it seems for PSG, because the loss of Kylian Mbappe in the summer left quite an emptiness in the attack … or so we thought. A lot of money has been issued to bring in Willian Pacho, Desire Done, Joao Neves and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, but what is remarkable is that there is no recognized striker in that list. It became more a team -based attack before Ousmane Dembele went centrally as the number nine, and the rest was history.

In addition to Doue, Kvaratskhelia and Bradley Barcola, no player scored more goals in 2025 than Dembele’s 25 in 26 performances. What a team affair should be, to replace Mbappe, actually became Dembele who performed it to do it. Someone who has always had the talent but was stopped by injuries and sometimes inconsistency, Dembele, along with many other members on this side, finds their top form under the supervision of Enrique.

Juvenile

Looking back on those transfers, it is remarkable that none of them were older than 23 when they became a member, with Kvaratskhelia 24 since he arrived in January. They already have experience at the highest levels of football, but they also have the energy to walk through a brick wall and at the same time take the guidance of Enrique to heart. Sometimes managing stars can be difficult to do, because players have different ideals of what they want to do, and the individual can become bigger than the collective. That was mainly seen when Lionel Messi, Neymar and Mbappe formed a dysfunctional trident that led the attack for PSG.

None of this is present in this team under Enrique. It can be the 90th minute and Kvaratskhelia still follows to make defensive challenges. That does not happen by accident. Under Enrique, PSG has developed an identity and has been able to fill in recruitment. He will still lead this youthful side to the promised country, but if the youngest team ever to make a UCL final, history is already in the making.