PSG provide perfect illusion with a model of beauty in soft-power project Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League victory is examined, questioning the ‘mythical’ status often attributed to the team. The article highlights the team’s evolution under Luis Enrique, its strategic focus on the Champions League, and how this success represents a shift in elite football models, fueled by Qatari investment but guided by effective management.

• PSG’s Champions League win is celebrated with ‘mythical’ headlines, but the article questions the justification for this status.
• The current PSG team under Luis Enrique is described as sensationally good and watchable, evolving tactically and displaying champion quality.
• The article notes that retaining the European Cup is historically difficult, but PSG’s success is framed within a model geared towards winning key spring games, not a broader domestic league struggle.
• PSG’s success is seen as a deviation from the traditional model where a club expresses its domestic league’s strengths, instead prioritizing its own ambition and power.
• The team is characterized as a luxury good, a product of an overclass world, with domestic matches serving as tune-ups for the Champions League.
• Luis Enrique’s management is credited with transforming PSG into a model of drive, focus, and tactical coherence, contrasting with its previous celebrity machine.
• Innovative training methods, including immersive simulators and data-heavy approaches, have contributed to the team’s rapid transformation.
• Despite being a soft-power project for Qatar, PSG is now viewed positively by many neutrals due to its aesthetically pleasing style and talent.
• The club also embodies genuine sporting virtues, with young academy players making debuts and a strong presence in the French national team, alongside a sophisticated image-making and cultural project.
• Ultimately, PSG is presented as embodying Paris itself: a delightful illusion of beauty and culture, masking underlying complexities, similar to how the team’s victory is perceived.