Luis Enrique wept tears of joy and emotion as Paris St-Germain delivered the performance of a lifetime to win the Champions League for the first time on a remarkable night in Munich.
And, as PSG outclassed Inter Milan for a historic 5-0 victory, brilliant teenager Desire Doue confirmed his status as one half of a new duo of young superstars – alongside Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal – who have the genius to dominate the game for years to come.
The poignant human story was that of PSG coach Luis Enrique, who became only the sixth coach to win this tournament with two different clubs after his triumph with Barcelona in 2015.
The sporting story was one of the finest team displays in the history of this tournament, in this and its previous guise of the European Cup, with generational teenage talent Doue as its centrepiece.
On the most important night of his career so far, Doue made the biggest stage in European club football his playground.
This was also a win heavy with significance and meaning for 55-year-old Asturian Luis Enrique, beyond the glory of the brutal beauty of this PSG triumph that finally brought the giant Champions League trophy to the City of Light.
The man who has transformed PSG has spoken about how he helped his daughter Xana plant a Barcelona flag in the centre circle after the 2015 triumph over Juventus in Berlin.
He said he hoped he might make the same gesture here in her memory after she died from a rare form of bone cancer aged nine in 2019.
In the afterglow of victory, he pulled on a T-shirt bearing a cartoon image of himself and his daughter planting a PSG flag.
And then, in a moment of raw emotion, PSG’s ‘Ultras’ unfurled their own tribute – a giant flag emblazoned with an image of father and daughter, in the French club’s shirt, planting a flag.
It was a wonderful gesture on a joyful night for PSG in Munich, when all their agonies as they chased the Champions League were washed away in one of the greatest displays any team has produced in a European final.
“I’m very happy. It was very emotional at the end with the banner from the fans for my family. But I always think about my daughter,” said Luis Enrique.
“Since day one, I said I wanted to win important trophies, and Paris had never won the Champions League. We did it for the first time. It’s a great feeling to make many people happy.”
