PSG will face an unprecedented opponent this Wednesday evening, for their Champions League debut. Luis Enrique’s troops will challenge Girona, a sensation last season in Spain and rookie in the most prestigious of European competitions. But as we know, the team co-owned by the City Football Group lost many important pieces of its squad this summer, and is therefore less competitive at the start of La Liga 2024/2025, with two wins, two draws and two defeats in five matches. Clearly, the departures of players like Savinho, Aleix Garcia, Yan Couto or Artem Dovbyk are being felt, while waiting to see if Bryan Gil, Abel Ruiz or Yasser Asprilla will manage to rise to the level of their predecessors.
A less brilliant record than last season, but far from disastrous despite the heavy score inflicted by Barça (4-1) last weekend. And it is largely thanks to Miguel Ángel Sánchez Muñoz, alias Michel, at the head of the club since 2021 when the club was in the second division. More than any player, he is clearly the key to this project. Slightly younger than Luis Enrique – they have often played against each other in La Liga – the former Rayo Vallecano playmaker is clearly the pillar of the club. The important thing is that Michel continues, what he has done in three years is spectacular. Our football has made many players want to come and play for us “, explained for example the sports director Quique Cárcel, a few days ago.
An old-school coach
It must be said that, regardless of the players present on the pitch, Girona is what is called in Spain a ” author team “, with a very clear and non-negotiable footballing identity, similar to what Spain did at the Euro for example. A very clean ball release from the defenders, rhythm control from the midfielders and madness once the ball reaches the most advanced players. If it is above all the team’s offensive play that was highlighted last year, Michel’s teams are above all balanced. They know how to torment the opponent by multiplying offensive assaults, adapting to the different ways of defending that their rivals can present, but they are also solid teams behind. United, also, since it is the whole team that must carry out a significant pressure.
A player trained in the streets of Vallecas, a rather working-class district in the south of Madrid, he is rather in favour of giving a lot of freedom to his most technically gifted players. And they return the favor, because he generally manages to exploit their qualities well. Unlike the younger generation of coaches, he is not very fond of statistics and the famous big data. Michel is more of an old-fashioned coach, with a small notepad and pen in hand, who accepts not having control over everything that can happen on the green rectangle. He lets himself be guided by his feelings and instincts more than by numbers.
The relationship with the players is very important
For him, a player’s development comes from the head more than from the feet. In the 90s and early 2000s, when he was still a player, he did not hesitate to call on sports psychologists, at a time when the issue of athletes’ mental health was not as highlighted as it is today. So he knows how to put them at ease, how to talk to them, and also knows how to handle certain scenarios that are always complicated, such as when you have to reframe a player who is not performing well or talk to a player who is lacking playing time. His pre-match and refreshment break talks are also regularly broadcast on Spanish television and often cause a sensation.
His strength is therefore knowing how to talk to players. All the footballers who have played under his orders can confirm that he is quite close to his troops. More than a father figure, we could describe him as the cool big cousin that we admire when we are kids. He also appreciates the feedback players, with whom he discusses a lot of tactical subjects. He is clearly not an authoritarian figure, as Luis Enrique can be for example, without entering into a value judgment. Against his compatriot’s PSG, he will make his debut in the Champions League; a competition that he risks playing regularly in the future, with Girona or with a big European club…
