After being fired, Mauricio Pochettino blasted Paris Saint-Germain, claiming that the club’s obsession with winning the Champions League had prevented it from progressing.
The French giants fired the former Spurs manager a month ago, and he has now opened up about it.
The 50-year-old enjoyed successful 18 months in charge at the Parc de Princes. He grabbed a Ligue 1 title and Coupe de France, but domestic success is obviously not what the club wants as
‘Everything is focused on the Champions League and sometimes that distracts a bit and that requirement seems to only exist in the Champions League preview and in other competitions it seems like PSG’s superiority,’ Pochettino said.
”The obsession is the Champions League and everything that is not winning the Champions League is synonymous with failure.’
Pochettino led PSG to the last-16 of the competition last season where they came unstuck against eventual winners, Real Madrid.
The Parisians won the first leg 1-0 and led 1-0 at half-time in the second leg at the Bernabeu, too. But a late turnaround saw Madrid triumph to the final.
However, Pochettino points to one foul his PSG did not get that could have saw them reach the finals.
‘I think the foul and having reviewed the VAR, today we would be talking about something else, the elimination of Madrid.’
Pochettino went on to say he is happy with how his tenure at PSG worked out.
“I am calm, I accept the circumstances that we had to live through. It all ended quite late, and I have to analyse everything that has happened in the last 18 months at Paris Saint-Germain.
‘I think it has been very positive. You always have to capitalize on experiences and learn from them. The only thing I can say is that they have always treated me well, they have treated us all well and that I will always be grateful.’
