the family drama that pushed Luis Enrique to abandon football before reaching the top

The name of PSG coach Luis Enrique is once again among the most mentioned. Under his command, the French club reached the top of the world by winning the unprecedented Club World Cup. As it could not be otherwise, little Xana, the coach’s daughter, who died in 2019, also remains in her father’s moments of glory.

Xana died when she was only nine years old. During her lifetime, the girl was able to celebrate titles like the 2015 Champions League, the season in which Luis Enrique led Barcelona with Messi, Suárez and Neymar. He also won the Spanish Championship and Copa del Rey titles that season.

Luis Enrique experienced a meteoric rise with this feat and reached the Spanish national team. But in 2019, he left his job as coach of the Spanish national team for a few months to care for his daughter, who was being treated for osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, while traveling back and forth between his home and the hospital. Xana died the same year.

“I have incredible memories, because my daughter loved to party. I am sure that wherever she is, she will continue to party. I remember an incredible photo that I have with her, during the Champions League final in Berlin, after the victory. She placed a Barça flag on the pitch. I hope I can do the same with PSG. My daughter will not be there physically, but she will be there spiritually. And for me, that is very important,” he said. reported Luis Enrique in the documentary “No tenéis ni p*** idea”.

After the death of their daughter, Luis and his wife, Elena Cullel, created the Xana Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to helping children undergoing cancer treatment. “She will always be the star that guides our family,” the Spanish coach said in the film.

The coach resumed his career a few months later, returning to the post of the Spanish national team, which he led until the 2022 World Cup. In June of the following year, he arrived at PSG.