Football

Mikel Arteta Looking To End Luis Enrique’s Fortune Against Spanish Managers As Arsenal Face PSG

louisfargher Sports Editor

Published6 hours ago on October 01, 2024

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Mikel Arteta will be the sixth Spanish manager to face Luis Enrique in the Champions League and the PSG boss has beat all of the previous five.

Arsenal vs PSG: Arteta vs Enrique

The Arsenal manager is taking charge of his second Champions League campaign, after his side reached the quarter final stage last season – losing to Bayern Munich over two legs.

This year, the Gunners made a sub-par start to their European journey, after being held to a 0-0 draw by Atalanta away from home – with the hosts missing a vital penalty.

Things are not getting any easier for Arsenal, as they welcome European giants PSG to the Emirates on Tuesday evening – although the Gunners have never lost to the French side (1W & 3D).

However, one stat that may concern Arteta and everyone involved with the north London side is Luis Enrique’s record against other Spanish managers.

The PSG boss has faced five of his fellow countrymen, including Pep Guardiola, Unai Emery, Xavi, Imanol Alguacil and Michel) – earning wins over each of them and boasting a record of five wins and one defeat.

Enrique has won five of his last six matches against Spanish managers and has lost just four of the 11 matches against coaches from the same nation as himself.

It may not come as a surprise that two of these defeats have been inflicted by Pep Guardiola, beating Enrique as manager of Bayern Munich and Manchester City.

However, both of these defeats came in the knockout stages and Enrique ended up progressing on both occasions after winning on aggregate.

Another of these defeats came against Unai Emery and PSG ironically, during the historic Barcelona comeback in 2017 – as Enrique’s side won 6-1 in the second leg to overturn the initial 4-0 defeat in Paris.

In February 2024, Enrique swept another Spanish manager aside by beating Imanol Algucail’s Real Sociedad in both legs of the round of 16 stage.

His most recent defeat against a Spanish manager came against Xavi, who played under Enrique for several years – as Barcelona beat PSG in the French capital.

Since that defeat, Enrique went on to beat Xavi in the second leg and begin the 2024/25 campaign with a win over Michel’s Girona side.

Interestingly, all of Enrique’s defeats against Spanish coaches have been in the knockout stages and the current PSG boss has progressed each time with aggregate victories.