Mauricio Pochettino defends his record at PSG

As manager of Paris Saint-Germain between January 2021 and July 2022, Mauricio Pochettino experienced a mixed bag of fortunes. And faced the inevitable criticism. Some of which the current USMNT manager may have found too harsh, as he sought to defend his record in an interview with L’Équipe.

“Perhaps people forget, but when you put things into perspective, we started January with COVID, several injured players, and a team sitting third in Ligue 1: the situation was not what a new coaching staff would typically expect,” he pointed out.

Which, as he recalled, did not prevent his team from enjoying a remarkable run in the Champions League that season, knocking out FC Barcelona (1–4 in the first leg, 1–1 in the second leg), and Bayern Munich (2-3 in the first leg, 1-0 in the second leg), before finally losing to Manchester City (1-2 in the first leg, 2-0 in the second leg), despite being without Kylian Mbappé (27) for the trip to the Etihad Stadium.

A promising season, but one that was quickly forgotten, largely due to the events of the following campaign, which was marred by a frustrating exit at the hands of Real Madrid in the round of 16.

“We just needed a bit of luck at the Bernabéu in the second leg of the round of 16 (1-3). At the Parc, in the first leg, we’d beaten Real Madrid (1-0). In the second leg, we were leading until the 61st minute, when Benzema fouled Donnarumma,” he regretted. “So you’re saying the manager’s approach was really poor, is that it? Was his approach during those ninety minutes at the Parc, against the eventual champions, poor? In Madrid, we were leading 1-0 and a second goal by Mbappé was disallowed for a borderline offside. The team were playing well before that refereeing error. Then we sat back and lost.”

An elimination that, as he knows, had signalled the end of his time in Paris. And this despite the French league title that he and his players had managed to win at the end of the 2021–22 season. Because in Paris, “the aim is to win the Champions League”.