Luis Enrique interview: Paris coach on playing styles, what is means to lift the trophy and his Mikel Arteta memories

Luis Enrique knows what it takes to lift the trophy after guiding Paris Saint-Germain to European glory last season, but the holders' coach also knows they face the stiffest of tests as his former team-mate Mikel Arteta leads Arsenal into the UEFA Champions League final in Budapest on 30 May.

Speaking to UEFA ahead of the showpiece, Luis Enrique insists that the two teams have plenty of similarities and reflects on what it meant to himself, the club and the fans to bring the silverware back to the French capital last season.

On the playing styles of Paris and Arsenal

I don't think the two teams are opposites. Arsenal are a team that is built in the image and likeness of Mikel Arteta. He clearly started with Pep Guardiola's ideology, built on possession-based football. They're incredibly competitive, showing Mikel's personality.

They're the best defensive team in Europe, and they have been for a few years. It's an explosive combination. They don't depend on one player. They score a lot of goals from set pieces and have that combination of being a team that doesn't concede goals and scores a lot of goals.

People may say that they don't score team goals, but who cares about that? Ask any Arsenal fan and I'm sure they’re delighted. They've now won the Premier League, and I congratulate them. They deserved it from the beginning because they've produced a great season. They were very close to winning every competition they were in.

We're similar in that we – just like Arsenal – try to make the most of our strengths and abilities, and to do so we need to keep the ball and express ourselves. We can also score from set pieces but we love to keep possession through linking up, looking for ways to break down the opposition, and we have to do that as a team.

Our players have more individual profiles, but they also play as a team. I think we're talking about two great teams – along with Bayern München, the three best teams in Europe. All this means we'll have to adapt to play and defend in a different way compared to what we usually do if we want to get the better of them.

On what it means to win the competition

When you win titles like we did last year, when nobody expected us to, there's a feeling of joy and pride, and even now that feeling is still there. It's not simply that we won a Champions League and made history with Paris because that was what we wanted. I arrived at the club thinking, "My objective is to make history," and we have indeed made history, but that chapter is closed now.

We want to keep writing the story because we believe there's still more there for us to achieve and that’s wonderful, rewarding, stimulating, exciting, especially when you realise that, through your hard work, you can make people you've never even met happy, whether just for a few moments or for much longer.

Families you don't know come up to you and thank you because they enjoy it so much. When someone watches a football match with their family, with grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters or children, there's a feeling and a connection there unlike almost anything else. And being able to enjoy a title like the one people celebrated last year, it's very beautiful.

On whether there was more pressure to win the competition last year or this

I'd say there was more pressure last season because everyone was like, "This is it! We can't lose this time!" This time around, there is pressure because we believe we deserve it, based on our run through the competition and all the other teams that we've seen off along the way.

We came through the play-off round, we had the worst draw out of the 36 teams. Following the process of everything we've experienced and everything we've improved over the course of the season, we're finishing it off with this final, and our aim is obviously to win it, to round off the season in a positive way.

On his playing days with Mikel Arteta and keeping in touch with him

What I remember about Mikel is that he was very young when I was already at Barça. I think we played one season together but I don't know if it was even a full season as he went to Paris [on loan]. So we didn't see each other that much, but I have great memories of him. An exceptional young guy, hardworking, with character and with quality. A very good midfielder.

When you meet someone within the world of football, you don't need to stay in contact with a daily, weekly or monthly call. Whenever I see Mikel Arteta, he always brings positivity to my life, in terms of the friendship we have or the experiences we've had during a season. You don't need too much time to connect. When there's a connection, a good feeling and positive energy, it's very pleasing. Whenever we see each other, we remember we were team-mates for a year and that it was amazing.

This interview was conducted on 20 May 2026