Argentinian Mauricio Pochettino, coach of Paris Saint-Germain, revealed the reasons that prompted him to replace star Lionel Messi during the Lyon match that was held on Sunday evening at the Parc des Princes in the sixth round of the French League championship for the current season 2021/2022.
Pochettino said, in statements after the match about replacing Messi during the match: “I made a decision to replace Leo to protect him from injuries. We have important matches and we preferred to protect him.”
And coach Pochettino added: “Any decision that will be difficult will naturally create pressure, especially if we are dealing with a star like Messi, we have important matches and we preferred to protect Messi.”
He continued: “Messi is a great player, but we have 5 changes, and we know that the players do not like to leave the field. We have to decide while we are on the bench to make decisions. After the change, Messi told me that he is fine, I am calm.”
“These are decisions we make for the team, everyone knows we have very great players and we have to make choices sometimes these decisions can be very difficult.”
And he added: “We have to play in every way. I am happy with the composure of our players, and happy to turn the result. We need to improve.”
And he continued: “We have a good start in the league, we were a little disappointed against Club Brugge, but things in the league are good,
On the match, Pochettino said: “Lyon is a great team, and I am happy that we beat them in today’s match. Our start in the league is good. We were a little disappointed against Club Brugge, but things are good in the league.”
He concluded his speech by saying, “We deserved to win despite this late goal. We played a good match. We improved compared to the previous match.”
Paris Saint-Germain
Lucas Paqueta scored the first goal of the Paris Saint-Germain match against Lyon in the 54th minute, after receiving a cross around it against Donnarumma.
Paris Saint-Germain tied with a goal in the 65th minute through the Brazilian Neymar da Silva, making the score 1/1 in the match, and the match referee awarded a penalty kick for Neymar da Silva after he was obstructed by the Lyon defender to equalize the result.
In added time, Argentine Mauri Icardi scored the goal and won from a wonderful cross he scored brilliantly against Lyon to end the result in favor of the Parisian team.
The match witnessed Lionel Messi’s angry exit at the moment he was substituted during his team’s match against Lyon, as the Argentine star refused to shake hands with his coach, and commented with words during his conversation with coach Pochettino while leaving the 76th stadium and the arrival of Ashraf Hakimi as a substitute.
The Paris club leads the French Ligue 1 standings with 18 points, while Lyon is in ninth place with only 8 points.