September 6: Felipe, 41, starts a five-game winning streak! Monaco stun PSG 2-1 away as Brazilian young coach becomes a football phenomenon

At the Parc des Princes in the early hours, Monaco had only 32% possession, four shots and two shots on target. Their opponents, PSG, had a squad value of €1.4 billion, 23 shots and 10 shots on target. The score ended 2-1, with the visitors taking the three points. The man leading the team was 41-year-old Felipe Luis, who has won all five competitive matches since taking over Monaco.

The flow of the match was almost the opposite of the teams' perceived strength. In the 31st minute, Emery switched play, Fabian played a through pass, Kvaratskhelia crossed from the left byline, and captain Marquinhos attacked the ball to put it into the net, giving PSG a 1-0 lead.

Monaco changed their approach after halftime. In the 58th minute, substitute Teze delivered a cross inside the box, and Portuguese left-back Nazinho headed in at the far post into an open goal to make it 1-1. In the 72nd minute, Golovin played a through ball, Belgian midfielder Idumbo received it on the left side of the box, beat Marquinhos and fired a low-angle shot into the near corner for 2-1.

In the 84th minute, Dembele headed the ball into the center of the box, and Ferran Torres finished with a shot. VAR ruled that Dembele was offside before receiving the ball, so the goal was disallowed. At the final whistle, PSG had gone three league rounds without a win, and including their 0-1 defeat to Lens in the French Super Cup final, they had failed to win four consecutive matches in all competitions.

The winning side was actually missing almost half of its regular starters. Fati, Balogun, Takumi Minamino and Salisu were all absent through injury. Felipe did not avoid the fact after the match, saying goalkeeper Hradecky made three incredible saves, with at least two of them outstanding. “Maybe PSG deserved a better result, but the result is already decided.”

An interesting detail was that just hours before the match, PSG had announced Enrique's contract extension until 2030, with players including Neves and Pacho also completing renewals.

After three league matches, Monaco had three wins from three, nine points, five goals scored and one conceded, sitting top of the table; PSG had two draws and one defeat, with two points, ranking 12th. This was the ninth time in Monaco's history they had started Ligue 1 with three straight wins, and Felipe became the first Monaco coach to lead the team to victory in each of the first five matches of a season. Across the five games, they scored 12 goals and conceded four.

For Felipe, this victory also carried personal meaning. In the December 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup final, his Flamengo side drew 1-1 with PSG in normal time before losing 2-1 on penalties. Nine months later, after switching teams, he reclaimed the result at the Parc des Princes. After the match he said Enrique was not only one of the best coaches today but also one of the greatest coaches in football history, and that beating him was a great honor.

Many fans still remember him from his playing days. Born on August 9, 1985, in Santa Catarina, he played as a left-back, spent many years at Atletico Madrid, made 333 appearances and won La Liga and the Europa League; he later lifted the Premier League trophy with Chelsea; he earned 44 Brazil caps and won the 2019 Copa America. He watched how coaches such as Simeone and Mourinho prepared matches every day from inside the dressing room.

He retired at Flamengo at the end of 2023 and did not take a break, immediately taking charge of the club's U17 team in January 2024. Five months later he led them to the U17 Rio Cup, then moved to become U20 head coach and won the U20 Intercontinental Cup. Before the youth-team achievements had even settled, Flamengo dismissed former Brazil coach Tite on September 30, 2024, and handed him the position.

His first-team coaching career progressed rapidly. On November 10, 2024, he led the team to a 1-0 away win over Atletico Mineiro in the second leg of the Copa do Brasil final, winning 4-1 on aggregate, after only nine matches in charge of the first team. In February 2025, the team beat Brazilian champions Botafogo to win the Brazilian Super Cup; on March 16 they won the Rio state championship; on November 29, Flamengo defeated Palmeiras 1-0 in the Copa Libertadores final at Lima's Monumental Stadium, with Danilo scoring the winning header. It was Flamengo's fourth Libertadores title, making them the first Brazilian club to win it four times. In early December, a 1-0 win over Ceara in round 37 of the Brazilian league secured the title one round early.

Five trophies in 14 months.

Two records among them are extremely difficult to repeat. In 2022, Felipe was the captain on the pitch and lifted the Libertadores trophy himself; in 2025, he stood on the sidelines and guided the team to the title, only 3 years and 31 days apart. The previous shortest gap for going from title-winning player to title-winning coach was held by Humberto Maschio at 5 years and 281 days, a record that had stood for 52 years. He also became the first person in South American football to win the Brazilian league, Copa do Brasil and Libertadores both as a player and as a coach.

He coached Flamengo in 99 matches, recording 62 wins, 21 draws and 16 defeats, averaging 2.1 points per game. In El Pais Uruguay's “King of South America” selection, he was named the best South American coach of 2025, when his team record was 48 wins, 16 draws and 9 defeats.

But the story took a sudden turn in March this year. On March 2, in the second leg of the Rio state league semifinal, Flamengo beat Madureira 8-0 away and advanced with an 11-0 aggregate score. After such a big win, the club announced he would no longer be head coach, while assistant coach Ivan Palanco and fitness coach Diogo Linhares also left. The two sides had only renewed his contract until the end of 2027 on December 29 last year.

Brazilian media reported the reason was losing two trophies at the start of the year: the Brazilian Super Cup to Corinthians and the South American Recopa to Lanus. The five trophies could not offset the two cup defeats, which was perhaps the clearest reminder of his coaching career that in South America, the value of a results record can expire quickly.

On July 6, Monaco officially announced him as first-team head coach on a contract until June 2028. The managerial change was led by club director Thiago Scuro. Monaco had finished seventh in Ligue 1 the previous season.

The start was not smooth. In his first July friendly, the team lost 0-2 to Sporting CP, and criticism immediately followed. They then won three consecutive friendlies, including a comeback from 0-2 down against Liverpool at Anfield to win 3-2. That match made many people take the South American coach seriously for the first time.

On August 20, he recorded his first official match back in Europe as a coach, winning 3-2 away against Polish side Gornik Zabrze in the first leg of the Conference League playoff round. On August 23, Monaco won 1-0 away at Le Havre in Ligue 1's opening round, on August 27 they beat Gornik Zabrze 4-1 at home, on August 30 they defeated Marseille 2-0 at home, and then came the September 4 match at the Parc des Princes.

Felipe's football has clear choices and trade-offs. He mainly uses a 4-2-3-1 system, asking his team to start pressing from the opponent's half, maintain stable build-up from the back, and give attacking technical players considerable freedom. Training emphasizes defensive discipline and toughness, while matches allow the attacking players to solve problems themselves. This approach fits Monaco's young squad well because the club operates by discovering and developing talents.

Against PSG away, he pushed those choices to the extreme. After the match he said the team tried high pressing at the beginning, PSG solved it through their ability, but they did not give up; at halftime they adjusted their approach with the ball, the players understood and executed it; in the second half they created chances, scored, and then had to show courage, keep running and defend actively.

The numbers were straightforward: 32% possession, four shots, two shots on target and two goals. After the match he repeatedly emphasized: “I will remain calm, we must play one match at a time,” and “my job is not only to get good results, but also to make the players perform at their best.”

His handling of people is also part of his system. With Kamara, who experienced transfer issues and fluctuations in confidence, he chose repeated communication and continued trust; a group of young players have received regular playing time under him. These things do not appear in highlight reels, but they affect whether a team can survive away matches in August.

It should be made clear that the five-game winning streak covers only 16 days. The genuinely strong opponents among them were Marseille and PSG, and PSG are clearly not at their best currently. Ahead are the Conference League league-phase schedule, fitness management across multiple competitions, possible injuries at any time, and the same kind of management patience issue he experienced at Flamengo last year. His first job in Europe has only just begun.