Bernabeu, instability, Champions League: Pochettino's frank verdict on PSG

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·23 March 2026

Bernabeu, instability, Champions League: Pochettino's frank verdict on PSG

Mauricio Pochettino, 54 years old, former coach of Paris Saint-Germain and current manager of the United States, gave L’Équipe a measured reflection on his time in Paris. Without erasing the elimination against Real Madrid, the Argentine highlights the context, the European run, and the lack of sporting stability at the time.

Pochettino: "We just needed a little stroke of luck at the Bernabeu in the second leg of the round of 16"

"Paris is a good memory. Maybe people forget, but when you put things into perspective, we arrived in January during COVID, with several injured players, a team that was third in Ligue 1: the situation did not meet the standards for a technical staff coming in. Yet, we eliminated Barcelona (4-1 away, 1-1 at home), Bayern Munich (3-2 then 0-1), and reached the Champions League semi-finals against Manchester City without Mbappé in the second leg (1-2, 0-2). The team was transformed the following summer and we played well afterwards. We just needed a little stroke of luck at the Bernabeu in the second leg of the round of 16 (1-3). At the Parc, in the first leg, we had beaten Real Madrid (1-0). In the return leg, we were ahead until the 61st minute and that foul by Benzema on Donnarumma. So you’re saying the manager’s approach was really bad, is that it? His approach for ninety minutes at the Parc, against the future champions, was bad? In Madrid, we led 1-0 and a second goal by Mbappé was disallowed for a marginal offside. The team was playing well before that refereeing error. Then we dropped back and lost.

Pochettino: "There was a lack of stability to achieve important goals"

I knew that at the final whistle of that round of 16, my time in Paris was over. Really? Yes. (He pauses.) I knew it because in Paris, the goal is to win the Champions League. Not Ligue 1 or the Coupe de France. You’ll also agree that the club was in a complex political situation at that time. And when I say that, I mean sporting politics. The supporters were not happy, there were protests, there was… There was a lack of stability to achieve important goals like winning the Champions League. But today, I’m happy to see that there is now that sporting stability which allows for a connection between all parts of the club."

In this statement, Pochettino is not asking for indulgence, but rather for memory. His point is to remind everyone that his PSG did not emerge in a calm environment, but in the midst of COVID, injuries, a reshuffled locker room, and constant internal pressure. He highlights a simple fact: despite this shaky backdrop, Paris eliminated Barcelona and then Bayern in 2021 before reaching the Champions League semi-finals, and then held off Real Madrid for a long time a year later before collapsing at the Bernabeu.

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The testimony sounds lucid because he doesn’t turn everything into an excuse: Pochettino implicitly acknowledges that at PSG, an early European exit is enough to permanently weaken a coach. He tells less of an injustice than of a mission that became too unstable to last. His comments also have the merit of bringing some order back to the collective memory: his time in Paris was not a total success, but it cannot be reduced to a caricature of failure either. Through this account, Pochettino is above all seeking to restore a coherence that the turmoil of the time had largely obscured.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.