In his very first match, he committed the ultimate 'cardinal sin': when Luis Enrique suffered a resounding failure at AS Roma

When Guardiola considered leaving in summer 2011 before ultimately staying on, Luis Enrique had seen enough: he announced his departure, and clubs immediately queued to persuade "the next Guardiola" to sign. The then 41-year-old chose AS Roma in summer 2011 for his first senior-team appointment, but by the end of that single season it was clear to all concerned that the fit was not ideal. 

Luis Enrique arrived at Roma with strong title aspirations. Despite finishing sixth the previous campaign, the club's new American owner, Thomas DiBenedetto, had injected 90 million euros into the transfer kitty. Luis Enrique wasted little time, splashing out on Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax), José Ángel (Gijón), Gabriel Heinze (Marseille), Simon Kjaer (Wolfsburg), Erik Lamela (River Plate), Miralem Pjanic (Lyon), Bojan Krkic (Barcelona), Dani Osvaldo (Espanyol) and Fabio Borini (Parma) all arrived in the Eternal City, creating a largely rebuilt side anchored by club legends Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi. 

One "new signing", however, was not exactly welcomed by Roma fans: Luis Enrique brought in former Barça player Ivan de la Peña as his assistant coach – and de la Peña had, of all places, spent four years on Lazio's books, something the Giallorossi supporters were far from having forgotten. Enrique paid no attention to the backlash. He was equally unperturbed by the squad's struggles to absorb his methods during the abbreviated pre-season. His vision was simple: replicate the tiki-taka blueprint that had dominated at Barcelona, emphasising relentless possession and aggressive counter-pressing once the ball was lost. 

"De Rossi came into my office and said, 'He's developing so many new concepts that I feel as though I've never played football before'," Roma sporting director Walter Sabatini told Spanish sports newspaper AS, summing up the impact of Luis Enrique's methods. The only problem: results were absent at the start of the season. The final pre-season friendly against Valencia CF ended in a 3-0 defeat, and a week later Roma faced Slovan Bratislava in the Europa League qualifiers. 

"There's a rule at Roma: anyone who attacks Totti commits a mortal sin. Anyone who questions him is finished," said Sabatini, reflecting several years later on the events in Slovakia. Luis Enrique had initially left the Roma legend on the bench – fully aware of the media storm that would follow. The Roma faithful were appalled, and after the 0-1 defeat—in which Totti entered as a second-half substitute—they were left stunned. "He knew that by leaving Totti out, he had dug his own grave," said Sabatini. 

Luis Enrique insisted the move was purely tactical. "That was brutally consistent," said the former Roma sporting director. What the coach had underestimated, however, was the ferocity of the backlash even before the first league match. At press conferences the only topic was Totti, and though Luis Enrique initially answered in a friendly tone, rumours quickly surfaced of a rift between the new coach and the club legend. "Francesco is a player I value and respect. I haven't had an argument with anyone," Luis Enrique was quick to insist. 

In the return leg against Bratislava, the manager started his superstar but replaced him after 74 minutes with the score at 1–0, following an assist from Totti. Slovan equalised late on, and Roma's hopes in the first competition were quickly extinguished. In Serie A, the team failed to win any of the opening three matches, despite Totti playing the full 90 minutes. One thing became clear: Luis Enrique lacked the players to deliver what fans and experts had hoped for under the banner of "BarcaRoma". Despite finishing the season with the second-highest average possession behind Juventus, Roma rarely turned that control into dangerous attacks, and the coach refused to adjust his system. 

The campaign never gained momentum, stalling in seventh place. Supporters, already suspicious of the coach for his handling of their idol, eventually lashed out, verbally abusing Luis Enrique's family outside his home. "He couldn't tolerate that any longer. He left. He was exhausted and needed a year's break," Sabatini recalled. With one matchday remaining in Serie A, Luis Enrique resigned as Roma manager. The blend of his principles and spectacular, successful football that he would later achieve at FC Barcelona, the Spanish national team and, currently, Paris Saint-Germain simply never materialised in Rome. For Giallorossi supporters, his departure after less than a year felt like the inevitable outcome of a process that began with that "mortal sin" in Bratislava.