In the wake of Paris Saint-Germain’s historic Champions League triumph over Inter Milan (5-0, video highlights PSG/Inter Milan), Emmanuel Macron received players and staff at the Élysée Palace. The French president underlined the national impact of this victory and paid a heartfelt tribute to Luis Enrique, the architect of this triumph.
Macron “It was magnificent and we were all thrilled.”
32 years after Olympique de Marseille here in Munich, you won this Champions League and you did it in a sublime, monstrous way. So yes, you’re the champions, you’ve put Paris at the top of Europe. It was magnificent, and we were all thrilled.
Macron “And soccer, as Yoann Cruyff, a great man before you, said, is all about transmission”.
There were 11 of you on the pitch, but there was clearly a second man, the public, and regardless of traditional allegiances, because yesterday you really pulled off a feat, it was a performance by you, the players, and you showed it.
It was the victory of an entire team, united from the first minute to the last, just as it has been throughout this year. It’s a team, a state of mind and solidarity, a will and an ambition. Because that’s the kind of soccer we like to see, and that’s the kind of soccer you’ve produced. And soccer, as Yoann Cruyff, a great man before you, said, is all about transmission.
And I have to say, dear Luis Enrique, that we owe you a lot, and I’ll start with you. I remember when you first arrived, there were a lot of people saying, we don’t understand this team. It’s not going to work.
Macron “You’ve turned this state of mind into a spirit of heart”.
Afterwards, I remember very well, it wasn’t 2 or 3 years ago, it was 10 months ago, there were a lot of great experts saying that the team was too young. It reminded me that this is the second-youngest team in history to have won the Champions League.
But you instilled strength and strategy into this very young team so that, indeed, they could win yesterday’s match 5-0, and you did it all year long, building foot by foot and doing it with this mixture of demands and benevolence. You’ve built that state of mind I was talking about, and in the end, you’ve turned that state of mind into a spirit of heart, and that’s the strength of a great coach. So for that, thank you.
Macron “I’d like to thank you most sincerely for putting our children, our teenagers and our young people through this”.
You didn’t just thrill Parisians last night and over the past few weeks, you thrilled an entire country. And as you’ve no doubt seen – we don’t always realize it at times like this – you’ve made a lot of 10, 12 and 15-year-olds dream.
Sometimes they put everything they had into you, and thanks to you, this club will be the club of their lives. They’ll never let it go again. And the star you’ve acquired will be on this club for life. On this Paris Saint-Germain jersey. That’s a great opportunity and, at the same time, an immense responsibility. I’d like to thank you most sincerely for giving our children, our teenagers and our young people this opportunity.
Macron “Now, I ask only one thing of you: always live up to what you showed yesterday”.
Because it’s priceless, it’s a dream. Maybe some of them will become great players, some of them are barely younger than the youngest among you. But you’ve given this jersey a soul, while at the same time taking with you all those before you who built this epic and enabled you to get here.
Thank you so much for making French youth dream, and even beyond our borders, and for ensuring that these young people will grow old and continue to love PSG. All I ask of you now is to live up to what you showed yesterday.
