PSG-OL (2-1): Pochettino justifies the replacement of Messi – daily mercato

PSG won 2-1 against OL on Sunday evening in the shock of the 6th day of Ligue 1 thanks to a decisive goal from Mauro Icardi in stoppage time. But what is a lot of talk this morning in the European and Spanish press in particular, it is the exit of Leo Messi in the 76th minute. Beyond the replacement of the Argentinian, it is his reaction and his short exchange with Mauricio Pochettino, very cold, that makes people talk.

Obviously, the Parisian coach was questioned on the subject after the match at a press conference and tried to deflate the controversy: “Everyone knows that we have great players in a squad that has 35. We make decisions at the start of the match with the eleven holders, we can not field more, and then during the match we make decisions thinking about what’s best for the team, for each player “, first entrusted Pochettino.

“The coaches are on the bench to make these decisions”

“Every coach thinks about that. Sometimes it works well, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it pleases, sometimes it doesn’t. But in the end, the coaches are on the bench to make those decisions.”, he added before being revived on Messi’s reaction: “I just asked him how he was and he said he was feeling good, no problems. And that’s it. That was the conversation we had.”

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?️ Pochettino deflates the controversy around Messi’s exit pic.twitter.com/Oj67urIfZe

– beIN SPORTS (@beinsports_FR) September 20, 2021

Also at a press conference, Pochettino was then asked to explain what had led him to choose Achraf Hakimi to replace Leo Messi: “The idea was to have more amplitude on the right side, more depth on this side. He almost had to play more as a midfielder than as a fullback. He also had to transform himself into a piston at times to have this depth and also bring a little more imbalance. After our efforts to get back to 1-1, we needed to maintain the defensive balance that Hakimi could offer us, without giving up the ability to arrive in the opposing final third to try to score that second goal and win the game. “