Luis Enrique paid a touching tribute to his daughter Xana with a special T-shirt after Paris Saint-Germain beat Inter in the Champions League final on Saturday night.
PSG delivered a dominant display in Saturday’s final at the Allianz Arena in Munich with a 5-0 victory over Inter to win the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.
Ahead of the final, Luis Enrique revealed that he was planning to pay tribute to his daughter Xana, who died at the age of nine from bone cancer in 2019.
During PSG’s celebrations on the pitch after their comprehensive win against Inter, Luis Enrique swapped shirts to wear a black T-shirt which had a cartoon image of him with his daughter holding a PSG flag.
The cartoon was an emotional reference to Xana holding the Catalan flag on the pitch after Luis Enrique guided Barcelona to a 3-1 win over Juventus in the Champions League final 10 years ago.
The text underneath the cartoon read: ‘We are the champions!’
‘I have incredible memories because my daughter loved parties, and I’m sure she’s still throwing them wherever she is,’ Luis Enrique said before PSG’s final this weekend.
‘I remember an incredible photo I have with her at the Champions League final in Berlin, after winning the Champions League, planting an FC Barcelona flag on the pitch.
‘I hope to be able to do the same with PSG. My daughter won’t be there, she won’t be there physically, but she will be there spiritually, and that’s very important to me.
‘I’m motivated to continue moving forward with what life gives me, sharing it with my family.’
PSG’s supporters also paid tribute to Xana during their Champions League final celebrations as they unveiled a huge tifo of Luis Enrique with his daughter in a PSG shirt inside the stadium.
When asked about the tifo that was unveiled by PSG fans, Luis Enrique said: Yes, very moving. This tifo and this detail, the fact that the fans thought of it, is beautiful.
‘But I don’t need to win a match to think of my daughter. She is always there and supports our family. I also feel her there when we lose.
‘We always find the positive in all this negative. I am very happy with the supporters’ gesture. A coach must constantly manage his emotions.’
In his documentary which was released last year, Luis Enrique recalled an emotional conversation with his mother after Xana’s death.
‘My mother couldn’t keep photos of Xana until I arrived home and asked her, ‘Why aren’t there any photos of Xana, mom?” Luis Enrique said.
‘I can’t, I can’t.’ ‘Mom, you have to put [up photos of] Xana. Xana is alive.’ She isn’t in the physical [sense] but she is in the spiritual [sense] because every day, we talk about her, we laugh and remember because I think Xana still sees us.’
Following Xana’s death, Luis Enrique and his family launched the Xana Foundation, which helps families of children impacted by serious illness.
‘Can I consider myself fortunate or unfortunate? I consider myself fortunate, very fortunate,’ Luis Enrique said in the documentary.
‘My daughter came to live with us for nine wonderful years. We have thousands of memories of her, videos, incredible things.’
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