PSG name Enrique as Galtier's replacement

Paris St Germain (PSG) have appointed former Barcelona and Spain coach Luis Enrique as their new manager on a two-year contract after the Ligue 1 champions parted ways with Christophe Galtier earlier on Wednesday.

Enrique led Barcelona to a treble in the 2014-15 season while he guided Spain to the semi-finals of the 2020 European Championship. He left the national team after they were knocked out of the 2022 World Cup in the last-16.

He had been out of a job ever since before signing a contract with PSG until 2025 and he immediately embraced the pressure of having to win the Champions League -- a trophy that has eluded the French club despite their domestic dominance.

"I am delighted to be here... I do not speak French, but I have started to learn it," Luis Enrique told reporters.

"I love this pressure. Dozens of teams have this same dream, sometimes teams that have more experience than us.

"The Champions League is almost unfair because one bad match and you exit the competition, but that's no excuse for us."

As the 53-year-old joins PSG, where player power has made things difficult for coaches in the past, he said he will not have any problems managing big egos.

"I've been to Barcelona, ​​I've coached big clubs, I've had stars, the players are selfish and smart," he said.

"They engage with you if they know you're there to help them. You have to give them a stage so they can perform at their best."

Galtier had signed a two-year deal when he arrived at the Parc des Princes ahead of the 2022-23 season but despite guiding PSG to a record-breaking 11th Ligue 1 title, their failure in the Champions League came back to haunt him.

"Paris St Germain and Christophe Galtier have decided to terminate his contract as first-team coach," PSG said in a statement.

"The club would like to pay tribute to his professionalism and commitment, which helped the Rouge & Bleu win a historic eleventh French championship title."

Galtier was also arrested for questioning last week as part of an investigation into alleged discrimination when he was at Nice following accusations by Julien Fournier, their former director of football.

Galtier, 56, denied making racist comments when a preliminary investigation into "discrimination based on alleged race or religion" was launched by the prosecution office in April.