A closer look at how PSG won the French title without losing a game

PARIS (AP) — Unbeaten Paris Saint-Germain has won Ligue 1 in early April with six games to spare.

Only the 2016 PSG side has won the French league earlier.

Here's a closer look at how PSG clinched a record-extending 13th Ligue 1 title under coach Luis Enrique, who was criticized at the start of the campaign because of the team's ineffective style of play.

Time and again, Kylian Mbappé bailed out PSG with late equalizers or winners during his final seasons with the club. For all of Mbappé’s undoubted ability and a club-record 256 goals, his heroics masked glaring deficiencies elsewhere.

The midfield was a bit soft and the defense often panicked under pressure in big games, with those factors leaving their goalkeeper too often exposed.

After Mbappé left for Real Madrid in the offseason, Luis Enrique had work to do.

He set things straight by saying Mbappé could not be replaced as a scorer and that results had to come through far better teamwork. He preferred to have several players chipping in regularly with goals, rather than spending another fortune on a superstar scorer who might also take time to settle in.

Young players such as 22-year-old Bradley Barcola, who has 18 goals this season, and 19-year-old Désiré Doué became symbols of a new-look PSG less dependant on big names.

Under Luis Enrique there has been no pampering of egos and preferential treatment for stars like in previous years when the likes of Neymar, Edinson Cavani and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were overly indulged.

Luis Enrique proved that point with a bold decision to drop forward Ousmane Dembélé on disciplinary grounds for a big Champions League game at Arsenal.

PSG lost that game 2-0 but the Spanish coach, although sometimes perceived as stubborn, made it crystal clear he was looking for dedication in his squad and he was non-negotiable on this point.

He was unhappy with Dembélé’s level of commitment at the time. So rather than shy away and meekly acquiesce to player power like some of his predecessors, Luis Enrique stood by his decision and was eventually proved right as Dembélé's form soared.

Before this season, Dembélé was widely seen as a lightning-fast and skilful right winger who got into great scoring positions but was a wasteful finisher.

His previous season-best goal tally stood at a modest 14 in 48 games overall for Barcelona during the 2018-19 campaign, and he had only once reached double figures in the league with 12 for Rennes in 2015-16.

But a decisive tactical switch by Luis Enrique paid huge dividends. He released Dembélé from his restrictive role as a winger and played him through the middle in a roaming role which also allowed him to drift to the wings.

The result has been emphatic, with Dembélé topping the Ligue 1 scoring charts with 21 goals and 32 overall.

Luis Enrique succeeded in signing flying winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia from Napoli at the second attempt after failing last year.

Even though PSG was moving away from the galactico era, there was still something missing in attack during an inconsistent first part of the season where PSG wasted chances galore.

Kvaratskhelia joined for 70 million euros ($72 million) and has added skill, goals, and assists. Kvaratskhelia's versatility also allowed Luis Enrique to deploy him on either wing and therefore enhance his attacking options.

Perhaps most crucially of all, the Georgia forward has a tremendous work ethic and has led by example by constantly tracking back to help out defenders.

Could there be a more unselfish team player than striker Gonçalo Ramos?

Many players of his scoring ability might sulk or complain about being on the bench.

But the Portugal forward's attitude has been irreproachable.

Furthermore, he has been clinical when given his chance and has contributed 14 goals in 30 games.

Doué joined PSG from Rennes for around 50 million euros ($55 million) in the offseason, which appeared a hefty fee for an unproven young player.

But Luis Enrique, who coached Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez and Neymar when Barcelona won the Champions League in 2015, saw in him a game-changing ability.

His hunch was backed up by the fact Rennes has a proven ability to develop young players, with Dembélé also coming through the Brittany club's rich youth ranks a decade ago.

Doué has proved an overwhelmingly good signing with his ability to improvise in tight situations, his skilful touches and his runs from deep.

He has also contributed 11 goals and showed remarkably good composure against Liverpool in a high-octane Champions League round-of-16 game last month.

Four PSG players have scored 10 or more goals overall this season, twice as many as last season.

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PSG's Bradley Barcola walks on the pitch during the French League One soccer match between Saint-Etienne and Paris Saint Germain at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in Saint-Etienne, France, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

PSG's Goncalo Ramos kicks the ball ahead of Angers' Florent Hanin during the French League One soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Angers at Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

PSG's Desire Doue, centre, celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the French League One soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Angers at Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

PSG's head coach Luis Enrique, centre, celebrates winning the French League One championship title after the soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Angers at Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

PSG's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, centre, challenges for the ball with Angers' Florent Hanin during the French League One soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Angers at Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Paris Saint-Germain players throw PSG's head coach Luis Enrique in the air after they won the French League One soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Angers at Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

LONDON (AP) — The former leader of Northern Ireland’s largest unionist party repeatedly sexually abused two girls in crimes dating back four decades, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday in opening statements at his rape trial.

Jeffrey Donaldson, 63, former leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, or DUP, pleaded not guilty to one count of rape, four counts of gross indecency and 13 indecent assault charges involving two alleged victims between 1985 and 2008.

Prosecutor Rosemary Walsh told jurors in Newry Crown Court that the alleged victims complained to police more than two years ago about “difficult and traumatic incidents they say happened when they were children.”

Donaldson resigned as leader of the DUP and quit as a lawmaker in the U.K. Parliament, after he was arrested in March 2024.

Donaldson’s resignation shocked the DUP shortly after the party ended its boycott of Northern Ireland’s semiautonomous government and returned to a power-sharing agreement, after he won concessions on Britain’s post-Brexit trading arrangements with the European Union.

As leader of the DUP between 2021 and 2023, he was the most powerful figure in Northern Ireland’s unionist movement, which seeks to maintain the region’s historic ties to the United Kingdom.

The two alleged victims told police that Donaldson groped them when they were around primary school age, and the older of the two, referred to in court as Complainant B, said that the abuse continued for several years, Walsh said.

Years later, Complainant B said that a meeting was arranged through a church and Donaldson apologized “for what had happened in the past.”

When Donaldson was interviewed by police, he said that it was “unbelievable” that he would have touched her sexually.

His wife, Eleanor Donaldson, has denied charges of aiding and abetting her husband’s alleged offenses, but she's not in court because Judge Paul Ramsey ruled her unfit to stand trial for mental health reasons.

Jurors will decide her case on facts, but she can't be convicted of a crime or punished. The trial is expected to last up to a month.

Jeffrey Donaldson arrives at Newry Crown Court, England, where he and his wife Eleanor Donaldson are accused of historical sexual offences, on Wednesday May 27, 2026. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)