Mauricio Pochettino believes Paris Saint-desperation Germain’s to win the Champions League has at times stifled the club’s progress.
The ex-Spurs manager was fired by the French giants a month ago and just made his first comments to Argentine media since leaving.
The 50-year-old has had a relatively successful 18-month tenure as manager of the Parc de Princes. He won the Ligue 1 title and the Coupe de France. But domestic success is not the standard at PSG.
‘Everything is concentrated on the Champions League, which sometimes distracts a bit, and that requirement seems to exist only in the Champions League preview, and in other competitions, it appears that PSG’s superiority,’ Pochettino added.
‘The Champions League is the fixation, and anything other than winning the Champions League is synonymous with failure.’
Last season, Pochettino led PSG to the last-16 of the competition, where they were defeated by eventual winners Real Madrid.
The Parisians won the first leg 1-0 and led the second match at the Bernabeu 1-0 at halftime.
However, a stunning late comeback saw Madrid victory and begin an extraordinary journey to the final. Pochettino, on the other hand, cites to one foul that his PSG did not receive that may have changed the course of history.
He believes Karim Benzema fouled Gianluigi Donnarumma for the opening goal, which allowed Vinicius to feed the Frenchman for the first of his hat-trick on the night.
‘I believe the foul and having reviewed the VAR, we would be discussing something else today, the elimination of Madrid.’
Pochettino is arguably one of the most appealing names on the market for Europe’s elite teams, but he is pleased with how his time at PSG went.
‘I am peaceful, and I accept the circumstances that we had to endure.’ It all came to a conclusion quite late, and I now have to go over everything that has happened at Paris Saint-Germain in the last 18 months.
‘I believe it was extremely positive.’ You must always profit on and learn from your experiences. The only thing I can say is that they have always treated me and all of us well, and for that I will be eternally thankful.’
The Argentine also claims that Kylian Mbappe’s departure from the club was a decision made by the club’s president. However, he believes it is only reasonable for the club to do all possible to keep one of the finest players in the world, including spending money and exerting power. He is one of the best players in the world today, and I believe that PSG, with all of the resources to do so, has persuaded him to stay. But I don’t believe Kylian planned the new initiative [which caused me to leave].
‘Those who rule, in this case the president, would have believed that a new club initiative would be the most convenient thing.’