Luis Enrique Defends Illia Zabarnyi Amid PSG's Early-Season Struggles
Luis Enrique did not hesitate. The question came about Illia Zabarnyi, the criticism, the price tag, the lack of minutes in Ligue 1 – and the Paris Saint-Germain coach went straight on the front foot.
“Criticism? This is a natural thing,” he said on Saturday, ahead of PSG’s league trip to Brest. At a club of this size, he reminded everyone, the noise never really stops. Win 6-1, lose 2-1 – someone will always be in the firing line.
Zabarnyi, the 60-million-euro Ukrainian centre-back signed in the summer of 2025, has become one of the early talking points of PSG’s season. Now in his second year in Paris, he has struggled to turn a heavy investment into a guaranteed place in the starting XI.
On Wednesday, he finally got another chance. Just his second start of the campaign came in the Champions League, against Slovan Bratislava. PSG ran riot, a 6-1 victory that on paper should have eased some of the tension. It did not. The questions still came.
Enrique, though, welcomed that tension.
“Even if you win 6-1, you will find criticism of the players,” he said, as reported by RMC. “It is very positive that there is this noise, because it means we are at a big club.”
A familiar pattern in Paris
The coach did not just shield Zabarnyi. He used him as a case study in what life at PSG looks like.
“I remember the criticism that Barcola, Dembélé, Doué and, of course, Luis Enrique faced,” he pointed out, including himself in the list. The message was clear: nobody here is spared. Not the winger, not the young prospect, not the coach, not the 60-million-euro defender.
“This is natural. I think it simply works this way,” he continued. “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 first season in Paris underlined the difficulty of breaking into this team. He made 37 appearances across all competitions, a respectable number for a newcomer, but never truly dislodged the established hierarchy. Marquinhos and Willian Pacho kept their grip on the heart of the defence, leaving the Ukrainian hovering on the edge of the XI rather than commanding it.
Now, with his second campaign under way, that battle has intensified.
Tough start, tougher spotlight
Context is everything. PSG have not started the Ligue 1 season like a side expected to dominate domestically.
- Two points from three games.
- No wins.
- Questions everywhere.
They lost to Lens in the Champions Cup, a game Zabarnyi started, before he dropped to the bench as the league fixtures rolled in. Monaco beat them 2-1. Lille and Rennes both held them to 2-2 draws. Leads slipped, control wavered, and the early-season table told an uncomfortable story for a club that measures itself in titles, not teething problems.
In that climate, every selection becomes a debate. Every omission, a headline.
Zabarnyi, despite his starting role and big win against Slovan Bratislava in Europe, is still waiting for his first Ligue 1 minutes of the season. For a defender of his profile and price, that is a statistic that will not go unnoticed, especially when the team is conceding and dropping points.
Enrique, though, framed it differently. For him, the criticism is not a crisis, but a symptom of PSG’s scale. The noise proves the stakes. The scrutiny proves the ambition.
The next step is simple enough to describe, far harder to execute: turn that noise into fuel, turn that pressure into performances, and find out whether Zabarnyi can move from expensive squad option to undisputed starter in a defence that badly needs stability.
