Luis Enrique underlines status as one of all-time greats with masterclass

Coach has proved his genius by moulding largely unstarry group into the champions of Europe for the first time

- David Hytner

At what point did Luis Enrique know it was going to work out, that his Paris Saint-Germain team would beat Inter at the Allianz Arena to win the club's first Champions League title? The manager had certainly cut a confident figure when he emerged onto the pitch 90 minutes before kick-off for a quick temperature check with his coaches.

The PSG ultras were already behind one of the goals, bobbing up and down en masse. They would be a forceful presence throughout. Luis Enrique was aware that an omen was on his side. Every time Munich had hosted a final in Europe's elite competition, a new champion had emerged. Nottingham Forest, 1979. Marseille, 1993. Borussia Dortmund, 1997. And Chelsea, 2012. Inter had arrived as three-time winners.

Luis Enrique is a spiritual person, so maybe that fed into things. What absolutely did was the shining light he had in the sky. "You will be the star that guides our family," he wrote in tribute to his daughter Xana in 2019 after she died from bone cancer at the age of nine.

Luis Enrique carries more than the unimaginable pain. He feels enriched by the time he was able to spend with her.