PARIS - Paris St Germain's road to the Champions League final has been defined by collective brilliance, but few players capture the chaos and beauty of Luis Enrique's side better than Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

As PSG prepare for another showdown, against Arsenal at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, the Georgian has become a symbol of Luis Enrique's exhilarating team, adding improvisation and menace to an already potent attack.

Long before Paris, however, there was Napoli. When the Serie A club signed the then little-known Georgian from Dinamo Batumi in 2022 for around 10 million euros, supporters barely knew how to pronounce his name. Videos on YouTube and TikTok offered guidance.

Even before his first official appearance, expectations had reached mythic levels. During his initiation ceremony, Kvaratskhelia sang Opus's "Live Is Life", the song forever tied to Diego Maradona's famous pre-match warm-up against Bayern Munich in 1989. Supporters immediately christened him "Kvaradona".

What followed was one of the most explosive breakthroughs in European football. Operating from the left wing in Luciano Spalletti's thrilling Napoli side, Kvaratskhelia shredded Serie A defenses with a dizzying repertoire of feints, body swerves, and sudden changes of pace.

By January 2023, he had six goals and seven assists in 14 league games and was tearing through Champions League opponents. "His unpredictability allows him to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary," Spalletti said.

That unpredictability remains central to his game. Nearly ambidextrous, Kvaratskhelia can attack outside or drift inside onto either foot, combine in tight spaces or accelerate directly at defenders. In Paris, he has become part of a collective machine alongside Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembele, Vitinha and Joao Neves.

His path to the elite was hardly conventional. Born in Tbilisi and coached early on by his father Badri, Kvaratskhelia developed in Georgia before moving to Russia with Rubin Kazan. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, FIFA rules allowed foreign players to suspend contracts, enabling his return to Dinamo Batumi before Napoli secured him.

Former Georgia coach Willy Sagnol said he had tried unsuccessfully to convince French clubs to sign him. Some executives considered recruiting a Georgian too risky or insufficiently glamorous. That hesitation now looks extraordinary.