Luis Enrique Defends Illia Zabarnyi Amid Criticism at PSG

Luis Enrique did not hesitate. Asked about Illia Zabarnyi’s early-season situation and the criticism swirling around the Ukrainian defender, the Paris Saint-Germain coach pushed back hard.

At a press conference on Saturday, on the eve of PSG’s Ligue 1 trip to Brest, the Spaniard was pressed on the centre-back who arrived in the summer of 2025 for more than 60 million euros and is now in his second year in Paris. Zabarnyi has barely featured this season, but when he did return to the starting XI in midweek, PSG thrashed Slovan Bratislava 6-1 in the Champions League.

That did not stop the questions. Or the scrutiny.

“Criticism? This is a natural thing,” Enrique said, as reported by RMC. “If you remember, it’s normal. When you are at a club like Paris Saint-Germain, there will always be criticism.”

Even a five-goal victory, he pointed out, changes nothing.

“Even if you win 6-1, you will find criticism of the players. It is very positive that there is this noise, because it means we are at a big club.”

Names, memories, and a warning

Enrique did not only shield Zabarnyi; he widened the lens. The coach rattled off examples from his own dressing room, players who have already felt the full force of the Paris spotlight.

“I remember the criticism that Barcola, Dembélé, Doué and, of course, Luis Enrique faced,” he said, nodding to his own experience as much as theirs.

For him, this is not a glitch in the system. It is the system.

“This is natural. I think it simply works this way. We have to appreciate the fact that we are one of the best clubs in the world. I am very happy with my squad.”

Zabarnyi’s place in the pecking order remains complicated. Last season, across all competitions, he made 37 appearances in his debut campaign for PSG, a solid return for a newcomer. Yet he never fully dislodged the established pairing at the back. Marquinhos and Willian Pacho have continued to block his path to a permanent starting role in central defence.

This year, that battle has only intensified.

Stuttering start, sharper questions

The timing of the debate around Zabarnyi is no coincidence. PSG have stumbled out of the blocks in Ligue 1, taking just two points from their first three matches. For a club built to dominate domestically, that is enough to set every position, every selection, under the microscope.

They began the season with a blow: a defeat to Lens in the Champions Cup, a game Zabarnyi started. After that, his situation changed quickly. He dropped to the bench for the league fixtures that followed, watching from the sidelines as Monaco beat PSG 2-1 and Lille and Rennes both held them to 2-2 draws.

The Ukrainian is still waiting for his first Ligue 1 minutes of the campaign. His only start so far came in Europe, in that 6-1 demolition of Slovan Bratislava — a statement scoreline that did not instantly translate into a guaranteed role at the weekend.

The noise around him is growing. Enrique insists that is exactly what life looks like at “one of the best clubs in the world.”

The real question now is whether Zabarnyi can turn that noise into something else: pressure that forges a starter, or pressure that squeezes him further to the margins of Paris Saint-Germain’s defence.