[6] The Catalans' supporters were at first hesitant about their new acquisition, but he soon won the hearts of the culers, staying eight years, eventually becoming team captain and scoring several times in El Clásico against his former employers;[7] he passionately celebrated at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, where he grabbed his jersey after a 25-yard strike that beat the opposing goalkeeper.

[8] Luis Enrique netted 46 La Liga goals in his first three seasons with Barcelona,[9][10] with the side finishing runner-up in 1996–97 and subsequently winning back-to-back domestic championship accolades.

"[13] His concerns about his level and fitness made him retire on 10 August 2004 at the age of 34,[13] and he finished his professional career with league totals of 400 games and 102 goals, being named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March.

He was also a member of the gold-winning squad at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona,[15] and made his debut for the main side on 17 April 1991, featuring for 22 minutes in a 0–2 friendly loss to Romania in Cáceres.

At the 1998 World Cup, Luis Enrique played a major role in a 6–1 rout of Bulgaria in the last game of the group, scoring and assisting once and also winning a penalty, but the Spaniards were eliminated nonetheless.

He signed a two-year contract, being joined by a staff of four members, including Iván de la Peña who played two years for crosstown rivals Lazio, as technical collaborator.

[38] Roma was eliminated from the UEFA Europa League by Slovan Bratislava, amid great discussion of the substitution of legendary Francesco Totti for Stefano Okaka.

[46] Luis Enrique suffered his first defeat in the competition on 25 October 2014, away against Real Madrid, and although Barcelona had a successful run in the year, his management came under scrutiny because of his tactics involving several lineup changes in consecutive games.

[47] Amid reports of dressing room unrest and on back of a defeat to Real Sociedad, Zubizarreta was sacked in early January, weakening Luis Enrique's standing at the club.

A significant upturn in form followed, as a result of the coach deciding on a settled lineup with a tweak in the formation: Messi and Neymar now played as inverted wingers, while Suárez was the lone striker.

[48][49] He soon equaled Guardiola's record of 11 consecutive victories,[49] while the side went on to beat Atlético Madrid and Villarreal convincingly in the Copa del Rey to advance to the final.

[51] He went on to lead the club to the final of the UEFA Champions League and, on 17 May, led it to its 23rd national championship with one match to spare following a 1–0 win at the Vicente Calderón against Atlético Madrid.

[52][53] On 6 June, having earlier won the domestic cup against Athletic Bilbao by the same score, the team sealed a treble with a 3–1 defeat of Juventus in the Champions League final in Berlin,[54] and three days later he signed a new contract until 2017.

[65][66][67] Speaking to the press after his return, a visibly angry Enrique alleged his friend and colleague of six years Robert Moreno — who managed the national team after his resignation — was "disloyal" and wanted to hold on to his interim position.

[71] On 5 July 2023, Luis Enrique officially became the manager of Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain, succeeding Christophe Galtier;[72] he signed a two-year contract.

[81][82] Statistically, Luis Enrique's Barcelona, in his first two years at the club, were better than Guardiola's: Comparatively his team had scored more goals and conceded fewer, had a higher win percentage and won competitions at a similar rate.

With overlapping full-backs offering width, Neymar and Messi often drifted in-field, encouraging midfielders, Rakitic and Iniesta, to move into channels and attack in and around the box.

In his third and final year, struggling for form and results, the manager switched to a 3–4–3 offense morphing into a 4–4–2 defensive shape, reminiscent of Antonio Conte's Premier League winners Chelsea more than Johan Cryuff's Dream Team, with Messi at the top of a midfield diamond, acting as chief play-maker, and Sergio Busquets, the sole holding defensive midfielder, responsible for breaking the first-line of opposition press.

The system favoured Neymar in particular, who played as a left forward, often cutting inside to link with lone striker Suárez, or to create an overload in the final-third sharing creative responsibilities with Messi.

This change in formation was instrumental as they overcame 0–4, the biggest first-leg deficit in Champions League history, by defeating PSG 6–1 in the second-leg; however, the physical and tactical discipline required to sustain a 3–4–3 proved controversial.

In possession, Spain usually start playing out from the back, to draw the opposition in, with Thiago Alcântara or any other central midfielder, dropping alongside Busquets to help progress the ball forward.

[citation needed] In a global advertising campaign in the run-up to the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, he starred in a "Secret Tournament" commercial (branded "Scorpion KO") directed by Terry Gilliam, appearing alongside footballers such as Luís Figo, Thierry Henry, Hidetoshi Nakata, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Totti, with former player Eric Cantona the tournament "referee".