When he was made official on the PSG bench instead of Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino was given the same mission as his predecessors: to allow Paris to lift the Champions League trophy.
First obstacle on his way: Barça.
A team that "Poche" knows well for having been for a long time a player and then the coach of Espanyol Barcelona, the other big club in the Catalan capital and great local rival of the "Cules".
The victory and the state of mind displayed by PSG at Camp Nou on February 16 must have greatly delighted the 39-year-old Argentine technician, he who spent his best years transcending himself against the same Barça.
"He left his skin on the field in these matches," remembers Robert Hernando, director of La Contra Deportiva, a site devoted to the news of Espanyol, in the columns of the Team.
"There are few things that a Perico (a" parakeet ", nickname for Espanyol supporters, editor's note) likes more than beating Barça and he knew it".
Mauricio Pochettino has known everything with Espanyol
Young star of Newell's Old Boys of Rosario in Argentina, Mauricio Pochettino was transferred in 1994 to Espanyol Barcelona.
At 22, he discovered the Old Continent and the Spanish championship.
"Mauricio Pochettino arrived at Espanyol in the summer of 1994, an important summer for the club since we had just moved up to the first division. With Branko Bronic and Florin Raducioiu, he will constitute the backbone of the team which will qualify two years later for the European Cup ", recontextualizes, Jordi Luego, editorial director of La Grada, media devoted to Espanyol Barcelona, joined by France 24." Despite his young age, he stands out as one of the leaders of the team. In his first season, he started 34 times, forming a nice central link with Sebastian Herrera. "
"He was Espanyol's defense chief throughout his time at the club. He was ruthless, tough and he was the coach's relay on the pitch," recalls the Catalan journalist, himself. same team fan
On February 9, 1997, Espanyol Barcelona received neighbor Blaugrana for a derby.
After a heroic match, the Blues and Whites won for the first time in ten years against their great rival.
His clashes with Blaugrana star Luis Figo bring him a little more into the hearts of Espanyol supporters.
"Mauricio kicked him with his crampons, but with a lot of elegance and subtlety, before lifting him up with one hand behind his back as if he had done nothing," recalls Robert Hernando with a smile.
Mauricio Pochettino defending against Nicolas Anelka on April 12, 2000 © Christophe Simon AFP
This is Espanyol's last victory against Barça at Estadio de Sarriá, their historic stadium which will be demolished a few months later.
An event that deeply marks "Poche".
Proof of an unwavering relationship between Espanyol and him, the day before the destruction, he asks the goalkeeper to let him enter this stadium which saw him born as a player.
"I could not contain my tears", he admits in his biography.
After 60 years of famine, Espanyol de Barcelona finally lifted a trophy thanks to the leadership of Mauricio Pochettino: a 2-1 victory in the Copa del Rey against Atlético de Madrid won "with courage", which remains today the one of Jordi Luengo's best memories.
In financial difficulties, the Barcelona club must however resolve to cede its central defender in the winter of 2001. Direction PSG for "Pocket" for two and a half years.
But the Argentine quickly returned to the fold when Luis Fernandez, whom he had worked with at PSG, took over the reins of the Catalan club and asked him to come back to save Espanyol.
A return to save the club
Luis Fernandes evoked this choice during an interview at the end of 2020: "In a group, you need (...) a leader in the state of mind, one who can bring people together around you. And, when you arrive at Espanyol, that's what seemed to me to be the right solution with Mauricio ", he explains.
The club is then on the verge of relegation.
But, once again, Pochettino's leadership will work wonders.
The club escaped and found good momentum, even offering itself a new King's Cup in 2006 and a C3 final in 2007. Without "Pocket" however, the legend having hung up his crampons at the end of the 2005 season / 2006 during a tearful press conference:
"I think I cried because I saw my son cry. Or maybe not. I cried because I cried. I had to leave the room to get some fresh air," says he does in his autobiography.
Maurico Pochettino in tears just after his sports retirement on September 15, 2006. © Josep Lago, AFP
With 304 matches, he remains to this day the foreign player who has worn the blue and white jersey most often and one of the few to have qualified the club three times for the European Cup.
From player to coach
But the love story doesn't end there.
Pochettino does not move away from the club despite his retirement from sports.
He begins to coach the women's team.
Then, in 2009, the good soldier was once again called to help a club once again on the verge of relegation.
"The then president Dani Sánchez Llibre then spoke with Pochettino who assured him that he could turn the situation around," said Jordi Luengo, managing editor of La Grada.
For his first match as a coach, in 2009, "Poche" and his troops pulled off a heroic draw (0-0) at Camp Nou in the cup.
A few weeks later, they come to wrest what remains today the last victory of Espanyol among the sworn enemy.
A 2-1 victory, with a brace from Ivan de la Peña, a longtime friend of coach Pochettino against Barça at his peak and ready to sign a historic sextuplet under the leadership of Messi and Guardiola.
"Despite everything, after the 28th day, the situation seemed even more desperate. The exit from the relegation zone was 8 points. But behind, the team achieved the impossible and pocketed 25 points out of 30 possible", continues the journalist Catalan Jordi Luengo.
"As a coach, my greatest joy was when we fled to Almeria, during my first season," Pochettino readily admits.
>> To read also: Mauricio Pochettino, a "sheriff" to revive the PSG machine
By landing on the bench of his favorite club, the Argentinian is the champion of novelty, imposing new methods and trying to bring the players as close as possible to the public.
Several anecdotes sum up the character: instead of barricading himself for his training, Pochettino used to take his players to run in the surrounding mountain for all to see.
And when six of his players get caught for a nightclub outing, he punishes them to pay out of pocket the 37 fan buses that were to accompany them to Villareal.
Rather go back to his farm than train Barça
While he would have liked to become "Alex Ferguson of Espanyol Barcelona", a reference to the legendary Manchester United coach who remained in command of the club for 27 years, a series of defeats and a place of red lantern cost him his place in 2012.
He then bounced back to Southampton, then to the Tottenham Hotspurs which he would lead to the Champions League final.
A solid CV which earned him rumors seeing him take over Barça.
He was immediately cut short at a press conference
"I will never coach Barça or Arsenal because I am linked to Espanyol and Tottenham", he explains. "I would rather go back to my farm than to train these clubs."
Mauricio Pochettino still maintains privileged ties with Barcelona and keeps an apartment in the Espanyol district located in the heights of the city, where he likes to return to spend his holidays with his sons, both of whom were born in the city. Catalan city.
Besides, they like to remind whoever wants to hear it that her two children grew up wearing Espanyol pajamas.
Now in Paris, his personality seems to be unanimous and to have united the players.
As illustrated by this anecdote that Pochettino told after the first leg against FC Barcelona about the "gift" that Mbappé gave him.
“Kylian was feeling good before the game. In training he asked me, 'How many times have you won at Camp Nou?'. I said 'once' with Espanyol. 'said:' Tomorrow, it will be the second '", had promised the young French prodigy.
And there, at the end of the match, he said to me: 'I told you we would win the second'. "
It remains to finish the job without trembling at home against Barça this Wednesday, March 10.
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