Integrity Score 230
No Records Found
No Records Found
No Records Found
The South Americans have often been labelled the world’s most emotional people – passionate and expressive for the causes dear to their hearts. Paris Saint-Germain this week have experienced it in their own way; while one such incident has delighted the coach Mauricio Pochettino, the other has left him clearly uneasy. Against Girondins de Bordeaux in League 1, Neymar struck two brilliant goals to pave the way for a PSG win that put them on top of table 10 points clear of RC Lens. After a superb first goal, the Brazilian paid tribute to his friend and music star Marilia Mendonca, who tragically died in a plane crash on the way to a concert in the Brazilian city of Caratinga. Neymar displayed a T-shirt that said: “You will always be eternal, Queen of Suffering.”
Pochettino definitely liked the emotional outburst that brought the best out of Neymar. “He had a very good game,” the coach said in appreciation. But what he couldn’t praise was the decision of his biggest star Lionel Messi to travel to Argentina to play the World Cup qualifiers for the national team despite the knee trouble. The injury kept Messi out in both matches against Leipzig and Bordeaux in the Champions League and League 1 respectively, but he travelled 13 hours to join Lionel Scaloni’s squad. Messi reportedly invoked a contract clause to prioritize matches for his motherland. PSG sporting director Leonardo is certainly not thrilled at the development. He said: “We do not agree to let a player go by selection who, for us, is not in physical condition or who is in the rehabilitation phase. It is not logical, and these types of situations deserve a real agreement with FIFA.”
Interestingly, Pochettino has stayed clear of the controversy – all he hoped Messi would comeback fit after high voltage clashes against Uruguay and Brazil. Himself a former Argentine international, Pochettino understands what it feels to be the part of the national squad. That too for a player, who hasn’t won too many silverwares for his own country. Messi knows the Qatar meet could be his last World Cup.