Arteta and Luis Enrique 'give' another Champions League to Spain

Following the eliminations of Spain's big three teams, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid, from the UEFA Champions League 2025-2026 season, some have claimed that Spanish football is in decline, weakened by the potential and optimal performance of foreign "forces." Are they sure? Well, no, that is not the case. Because Spanish soccer is more alive than ever, mainly thanks to two figures who have established themselves as the best coaches of the present and who have taken their teams to the Champions League final.

Mikel Arteta and Luis Enrique Martínez will be the two managers shaking hands before the referee blows the whistle to start the UEFA Champions League final on May 30 in Budapest, Hungary. Thanks to their tactical mastery and their way of seeing, understanding and living soccer, both are responsible for the success already achieved by Arsenal FC and Paris Saint-Germain, because getting to the final knockout stage is not easy for anyone.

Arteta and Luis Enrique will make the Spanish flag visible in Budapest. Not because it is the banner of the teams that will play in the final, obviously those will be the flags of France and England, but in the different graphics that appear in broadcasts or in stories told in books or documentaries. Therefore, despite not seeing Real Madrid, Barcelona or Atlético Madrid in the final, it is fair to say that both "give" another Champions League to Spain.

Luis Enrique has turned PSG into a monster

He has done it again. Luis Enrique led PSG to the top last season, to the top last season, crushing Inter Milan in the final 5-0 in the final and giving the team from the French capital its first UEFA Champions League title. Now, with his peculiar personality, he sometimes errs on the side of arrogance, and his tactical approach, he has returned the team he has led since 2023 to the top, with the clear objective of defending the champion status he holds in European soccer's top competition.

With him at the controls, PSG has undergone a transformation that seemed impossible to happen. When Qatari funds arrived at the team in 2011, the new owners gave the reins to renowned managers (such as Carlo Ancelotti, Thomas Tuchel or Mauricio Pochettino), each with a colossal project filled with players who have been or are stars, such as Neymar Jr., Leo Messi or Kylian Mbappé. After all those stages failed, crisis after crisis, Luis Enrique arrived three seasons ago. And with him came the philosophy that the team is above everything else, even the players. This is what PSG needed to succeed.

Luis Enrique did not count on Neymar or Messi at PSG; he did count on Mbappé but only in his first season. The departure of the galactic striker to Real Madrid in the summer of 2024 seemed to be a catastrophe for all of Paris. But not for the Spanish coach, who stuck to his theory, giving more value to the team and prioritizing it. In that very season, the first post-Mbappe, came the greatest success PSG has ever achieved: winning the UEFA Champions League. It also led to one of its best players, Ousmane Dembélé, being awarded the Ballon d'Or.

This season, when as a rule the reigning champions usually fall at the first hurdle, Luis Enrique has kept PSG on top, with players such as Dembélé, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Vitinha. The goal, of course, is to repeat last year's success. Whether that happens or not, what is clear is that he has turned PSG into a virtually unbeatable monster.

Mikel Arteta, the surgeon Arsenal needed

The relationship between Arsenal and the UEFA Champions League has only one chapter: a bitter history for the London team. It was two decades ago, in the 2005-06 season, that they played in the only Champions League final in their history. Arsenal, who at the time boasted stars such as Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires, among others, and were led by an emblematic Arsene Wenger, were defeated 2-1 by Barcelona.

After that date came a stormy period in the history of the English club, especially in Europe's top competition. The change came in 2019 with the arrival of Arteta on the Arsenal bench. He is a calmer guy than his rival in the dugout on May 30, but with the same tactical strength. Someone who since his landing has practiced like a surgeon to heal the wounds of "the gunners." In his seventh season in charge, after many changes in the squad but with a clear idea of the game, the Spanish coach has led the English team to a new opportunity to win its first Champions League title.

A priori, Arteta knows that "his" Arsenal is not a favorite in this final. PSG is. However, Arsenal is not short on talent, with players like Bukayo Saka, Viktor Gyokeres and Declan Rice, to be able to break down the door and lift the Champions League title to the sky.

Being the next Champions League champion will be a matter not only of tactics and approach, but also of personality and morale. Something these two Spanish coaches will compete to give to their players. Arteta and Luis Enrique are not only "giving" a Champions League to Spain; they are teaching a reality lesson to those who think Spanish soccer is dead.