Everyone was waiting for him around the corner.
To see what he was capable of a week after the lackluster draw (2-2) conceded against Brest, to also convince himself that he was on the right track twelve days before challenging Real Sociedad in the round of 16 of the League champions.
Paris, this Friday will, once again, not have filled all the boxes since only half of Luis Enrique's wishes were granted in Alsace.
Of the two full points, points and confidence, that the Spanish technician aspired to come to Meinau, only the one referring to mathematics actually met expectations.
By achieving its fourteenth success (1-2) of the season in Ligue 1, Paris has, as its coach wished, put itself back into a positive dynamic.
At the end of this opening match of the 20th day, he can be satisfied with having returned to the top of the ranking and to be, at least momentarily, nine lengths ahead of Nice, his runner-up, before his shock against Brest, the third, Sunday afternoon.
But as far as the assurance, the certainties and the robustness in the game that he came to hunt in Bas-Rhin are concerned, Luis Enrique will have to come back.
We knew that with its Barcola - Dembélé pair, PSG was capable of everything, in any case much more than what it revealed this Friday at Meinau.
We imagined less that in the absence of the explosive dynamiter of the left flank, suspended, and its twirling supreme guide of the right wing, spared for a pain in the thigh, the PSG would not only beat the wing but would also at times start to limp low.
After a crazy start to the match carried by goalkeepers - Parisian and Strasbourg - in a state of grace, it took a twist of fate to see PSG get the better of the 10th in Ligue 1. Heroic, for its debut in Ligue 1 , when diverting Kylian Mbappé's penalty (4th), Alaa Bennaarouch will be unhappy, on the other hand on his recovery blocked by Asensio allowing Mbappé to open the score against the course of play in the empty goal (31st).
A hell of a gift for this PSG in difficulty and without spring for its 2600th match since its creation in 1970. Very ordinary, the top scorer in L1 (20 goals) will at least have the merit of having been able to play the saviors since the return of the locker room, it was he who, at the end of a well-conducted counterattack, allowed Marco Asensio, who was in surgery, to double the score on his return from the locker room (49th).
But five days from meeting Brest in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France, twelve from putting their European future on the table, these are the only real satisfactions that will be drawn from this meeting with ultimately worrying contours.
Like last week against Brest, Luis Enrique's troops gradually faded away in the second half, being pushed around like kids by Strasbourg players with a much more ferocious appetite.
The numbers say it all: Strasbourg returned to the locker room after unleashing 20 strikes.
PARis 9. Thanks, in particular to a decisive Donnarumma, only Bakwa will succeed in finding the net to reduce the score.
A warning this time at no cost