Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that Paris Saint Germain decided to sack him despite winning the league cup with the team because he failed to win the UEFA Champions League with the team.
Before and during Mauricio Pochettino’s era at PSG, the French team often win all the available domestic leagues in France. But the club has been investing heavily to win the UEFA Champions League.
Hence, when Mauricio Pochettino failed to lead the star-studded PSG that paraded superstars like Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, and Neymar, to win the Champions League, he had to be sacked.
Mauricio Pochettino on his time as PSG coach: “I think it was very positive… Sporting-wise, we won the Copa, the Supercopa, and the league in a year and a half. But well, it’s clear that PSG’s project is to win the Champions League.”
The Argentine coach has been replaced by a former Lille manager, Christophe Galtier, who won a league title with Lille last two seasons.
Recall that PSG was sent packing from last season’s Champions League campaign after they failed to beat Real Madrid in the round of 16 and Mauricio Pochettino had to pay for it by losing his job. He is however expected to attract the attention of bigger clubs in Europe in the coming months.
PSG are a side with bigger ambitions and they have shown that by signing big names in the game. They just want to be regarded as the best in the world and are ready to do anything possible to achieve that.
To prove that they are not ready to settle for less, it was not only Pochettino that was shown the exit door. The club owners also let go of their sports director Leonardo after Mbappe extended his contract with PSG.
Most critics believe that Mauricio Pochettino lost a lot of matches in the league, and even with Lionel Messi at the club, his tactics were based on defending more often than expected.
Last season, Messi was criticized for disrespecting Pochettino after he failed to check the hands of the manager after he was substituted in a match.
Apart from that, in the history of PSG, he was the manager with the lowest winning rate. That is a bad record for a manager of his caliber. Unai Emery has been regarded as the greatest PSG manager, but he was also sacked for failing to win the Champions League.
Pochettino also dealt with the management of Neymar and Mbappe, who were bigger stars than him, but his inability to utilize them led to his downfall. PSG gave Pochettino two chances to make their dream come through, but he failed to do that even with the best among the best.
Compared to his success at Tottenham, the one at PSG was not a bad one. At Tottenham, he got to the Champions League final and could have won it if not for the glorious chances that were missed. He had one of the best winning rates at Tottenham and was also close to winning the league.
He deployed a 4-3-3 formation and changed it to a 4-3-1-2 formation to suit the kind of players Neymar, Mbappe, and Messi had. A lot of managers regarded him as the happiest manager in the world because of the kind of players he got.
🗣Mauricio Pochettino: "Argentine football is an example of society. There is no patience. The first is to defend, after that attack and to take few risks. It's very difficult for the coaching staff in Argentina to have a project that is medium or long term." This via @infobae.🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/orB4IrMG96
— Roy Nemer (@RoyNemer) August 1, 2022
