Champions.The PSG does not risk: Neymar will not play against Barcelona in Paris
Requirement without bad faces
.
Intensity at work but dialogue.
Talk little and not mess with anyone.
And all this, clothed in
optimism
.
They are the coinciding messages transmitted by those who follow the work of
Mauricio Pochettino
, who recently arrived at the
PSG
bench
.
Today he is facing his
first big night
, on the way to which is the sole objective of the Qatari masters of the Parisian club, the
Champions League
.
Ancelotti, Blanc, Emery, Tuchel
had better track records than him when they came to the bench.
They won French
Leagues and Cups
.
They failed in Europe.
They had to go.
He cannot boast of titles, at most a lost final, that of the
2019 Champions League
with
Tottenham
against
Liverpool
.
Just like the losing PSG in the last edition against Bayern.
Faced with that curse, faced with the curse that seems to haunt
Neymar again
, absent due to injury in the second round,
Pochettino raises his calm voice
: "That past does not affect us. We came here with a free spirit and without prejudice. Those ideas transmit only negativity. Staying looking at the past limits your future possibilities, "he told AFP yesterday.
"We come with a new energy, we think we have the potential to continue in contention in the Champions League. In football,
conviction allows you to get closer to victory
."
Closeness to the stars
All the French media highlight his optimism.
Although it would be more accurate to speak of good vibes.
What a contrast to Tuchel!
His predecessor, who has already found a place at Chelsea, was at
odds with the whole world
.
Sharp responses to the press, open mic discrepancies with
Leonardo
, sports director, controversies with the players.
Pochetttino has chosen the clear line.
He speaks little and in Spanish
at press conferences, traces the official speech of the club on the renewal of
Neymar
or the arrival of
Messi
.
Perhaps the moment of the stars has helped him that, be it due to personal maturation or because of the pandemic, they seem
determined to make people talk only on the lawn
.
You may have heard the statements of
Thomas Meunier
who after leaving the club in the summer summed up his four years in Paris as "
nothing except birthday parties
."
The 'Committee of Wise Men' of PSG
Pochettino has imported from the Premier the
intense warm-ups
prior to training.
From the first day he has shown his closeness to
Verrati and Mbappé
, two key architects of 1-4 at the Camp Nou.
Those who follow the day of PSG say that he talks a lot and calmly at every break.
And that he stays talking to one or two players at the end of each session.
He relies on the
committee of wise men made up of Verrati, Mbappé, Marquinhos, Navas and Kimpembe
.
Confidence does not prevent prudence: on the eve of the first leg the starting eleven did not discover his players.
Yesterday he ruled out that he will face the return against Barcelona, with the spirit of revenge.
Neither because of his Espanyolista past nor because of
the pending accounts of PSG,
humiliated by the comeback.
"Coming to train every morning, being with the players, trying to improve, that's what motivates me. Maybe I have more motivation to go to training than for the competition. Motivation, concentration is built day by day."
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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