{"id":17842,"date":"2026-05-06T10:57:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T10:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/17842\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T10:57:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T10:57:23","slug":"who-makes-a-combined-xi-of-luis-enriques-psg-and-barcelona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/17842\/","title":{"rendered":"Who makes a combined XI of Luis Enrique&#8217;s PSG and Barcelona?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Luis Enrique has been manager of not one but two of the best sides in European football history \u2013 but who makes a combined XI?<\/p>\n<p>His Barcelona treble-winning side may well be eclipsed by his current PSG team, which is on for another Champions League title.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s who we picked for a combined team, lining up in a 4-3-3 formation.<\/p>\n<p>GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen<\/p>\n<p>With Gianluigi Donnarumma now at City, the goalkeeper spot goes to Ter Stegen.<\/p>\n<p>The German was a genuinely incredible shot-stopper and had an ability to save shots at a time when all hope looked lost.<\/p>\n<p>Being a Barcelona player meant he was also very good on the ball and he stayed between the Camp Nou sticks for eight years.<\/p>\n<p>RB: Achraf Hakimi<\/p>\n<p>In many ways, Dani Alves redefined the role of full back but the groundwork he laid has been picked up by the likes of Hakimi and improved upon.<\/p>\n<p>He is ridiculously fast and contributes a great deal in the final third. The Moroccan has been a mainstay in Enrique\u2019s side and deserves his spot in this one.<\/p>\n<p>CB: Gerard Pique<\/p>\n<p>An easy pick at centre back with Pique one of the best of his generation.<\/p>\n<p>Playing in that Barcelona team demanded that you be competent on the ball but perhaps more than the likes of Sergio Ramos was, Pique was also a very good defender.<\/p>\n<p>By this point, his right-hand man Carles Puyol had retired but Piqu\u00e9 grew into the role of leader and was a defensive rock at the back for Barcelona.<\/p>\n<p>CB: Willian Pacho<\/p>\n<p>Choosing a centre back partnership for Gerard Pique can be a little hard as there is not an outstanding candidate.<\/p>\n<p>With Marquinhos, who has had a few dodgy moments over the years, and converted midfielder Javier Mascherano as the alternatives, we are instead going to go for Willian Pacho who is one of the most highly rated defensive prospects in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s only 24 and Luis Enrique suggested he \u201cenhanced\u201d the play of others around him. High praise.<\/p>\n<p>LB: Jordi Alba<\/p>\n<p>Another few years and Nuno Mendes may well eclipse him but for now, we are giving the full back spot to Alba.<\/p>\n<p>The Spaniard was the definition of a flying full back and assisted 99 goals in his Barcelona days, scoring 27 as well.<\/p>\n<p>He won the lot at the Camp Nou and deserves his spot in this team.<\/p>\n<p>CDM: Sergio Busquets<\/p>\n<p>An easy pick with Busquets arguably the best defensive midfielder to ever play the game.<\/p>\n<p>Listen to any player from that era and they will tell you that no one else had the ability to dictate a game and start counter-attacks in the way that Busquets could.<\/p>\n<p>The Spaniard would rob you of possession and before you had even realised, had laid it off to the front three to attack goal.<\/p>\n<p>CM: Vitinha<\/p>\n<p>Given Xavi was in his final season during Barcelona\u2019s treble, we are giving this central midfield spot to Vitinha.<\/p>\n<p>The former Wolves player has an incredible ability to find a way out of trouble and is the metronome for Enrique\u2019s PSG.<\/p>\n<p>He is versatile too and comfortable to drop deep and start attacks as well as play further upfield.<\/p>\n<p>His close control, passing ability and skill to break the lines brings one player to mind\u2026<\/p>\n<p>CM: Andres Iniesta<\/p>\n<p>To many, Iniesta is the best midfielder to ever play the game.<\/p>\n<p>He could control the tempo like Xavi but was a more dynamic player and one able to push forward attacks whether that be through passing or his own incredible ball control.<\/p>\n<p>He could hit them too as his goal against Madrid in November 2015 showed.<\/p>\n<p>RW: Lionel Messi<\/p>\n<p>What more is there to be said than it\u2019s Messi?<\/p>\n<p>D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Dou\u00e9 is excellent and at 20, destined for great things in the game, but no one since or before has come close to what Messi did.<\/p>\n<p>LW: Neymar<\/p>\n<p>Sorry to every PSG attacker, but there is no breaking up this three. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is brilliant but Neymar is on a different level.<\/p>\n<p>Whether you want to call him the new Ronaldinho or Pele, he had an incredible ability on the ball and made <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetfootball.com\/nostalgia\/neymar-ruben-amorim-destroyed-2013-brazil-portugal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">watching football fun<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>ST: Luis Suarez<\/p>\n<p>Ousmane Dembele may be the reigning Ballon d\u2019Or holder but by almost every metric, Suarez was better.<\/p>\n<p>The Uruguayan was the kind of player who could win matches on his own and while he had to do that often at Liverpool, moving to Barcelona put him alongside better players and his ability only went up.<\/p>\n<p>He scored simply buckets of goals and was the rare breed of striker who could flourish alongside Messi.<\/p>\n<p>READ NEXT: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetfootball.com\/barcelona\/barcelona-messi-neymar-suarez-iconic-celebration-photo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Anatomy of an iconic photo: The birth of Barcelona\u2019s \u2018MSN\u2019 era with Messi, Neymar &amp; Suarez\u2019s joy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>TRY A QUIZ: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetfootball.com\/quizzes\/barcelona-psg-played-both-clubs\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Can you name everybody to have played for Barcelona &amp; PSG since 2000?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luis Enrique has been manager of not one but two of the best sides in European football history&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,187,4966,7052,4298,1498],"class_list":{"0":"post-17842","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-barcelona","8":"tag-barcelona","9":"tag-champions-league","10":"tag-latest","11":"tag-luis-enrique","12":"tag-popular","13":"tag-psg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}