Mauricio Pochettino used the pre-match press conference against Caen to stick up for his team with regards to the interest in signing Leo Messi.
PSG and Barcelona have got into a spat prior to the Champions League tie over Leo Messi. Accusations, interests and denials have become commonplace in Pochettino and Koeman’s press conferences.
It was the Argentine’s turn to speak about his compatriot Messi before the game with Caen and he was very clear: “We are talking about a magazine which has nothing to do with PSG. When a player speaks, like Di Maria, he does so as a teammate (for Argentina), through emotion and affection.”
“Messi has not been disrespected at any time and nothing has been done that goes against him at all. Every player can say what they want, can talk about teammates of other teams. Here we have total respect,” the Argentine insisted-.
After clearing it up, Pochettino confirmed the absence of Angel di Maria for the Champions League tie: “In a week, the club will talk about the steps to follow with Angel. What is confirmed is that he won’t play against Barcelona, of course.”
Finally, the former Tottenham boss refused to name a replacement for the ex-Real Madrid and Man Utd player. He said he would say it on a game by game basis: “Football isn’t maths and it isn’t analysed like that. We’ll make the decisions which we believe are the right ones.“
Source: besoccer.com