Mauricio Pochettino has opened up on how he confronted Thierry Henry after the Arsenal legend openly criticized his usage of Lionel Messi at Paris Saint-Germain.
During Messi’s first few months at PSG, he struggled to score in Ligue 1, prompting a reaction from Henry. Henry, who was commentating for Amazon Prime Video at the time, questioned his former teammate’s positioning under Pochettino, saying he was ‘isolated’ for being deployed at right-wing. He suggested that Lionel Messi should be playing in the middle, where he can dictate the tempo of the game.
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In a recent chat with L’Equipe, Pochettino rubbished Henry’s claims that he forced Messi into a rigid right-wing position and explained that the player’s movement was often due to a natural flow in which he needed to take a temporary rest rather than a strict managerial instruction. The USMNT coach said:
“Thierry Henry, who was commentating for Prime, said he didn’t understand why Pochettino had put Messi on the right wing when he was better alongside Neymar. To that, I reply: Pochettino and his staff didn’t deliberately move Messi to the right wing in the second half. Sometimes players find themselves in a defensive position to recover, to regain their energy, and that was the case with Messi.”
Pochettino, however, wouldn’t take such accusations lightly, as he challenged Henry for his comments. He recalled telling Henry not to lie to make a point, stressing that things like that hurt him the most. He continued:
“I remember telling him that. He actually agreed with me and replied, ‘Well, what do you want me to do?’ No! Not ‘What do you want me to do?’ Don’t lie, that’s all. Sometimes it’s things like that that hurt me the most,” he added. “When you sign for PSG, it’s because you have a track record. It’s not to do me a favor. Nobody does you a favor in football.
“I don’t care if people tell me I’m ugly, fat, or whatever. But lying… At that time, there was a lot of disrespect shown to us. I repeat: we had the necessary expertise to create a solid structure to give Messi, Neymar, and Mbappe the opportunity to perform at their best. But, well, the decision was made to withdraw.”
Despite his tough start to life at the French capital, Lionel Messi won the Ligue 1 title in his debut campaign. Pochettino, however, left PSG at the end of that season.
When Lionel Messi opened up on ‘bad’ first season at PSG
Back in 2022, Lionel Messi said he endured a ‘bad time’ during his debut season at PSG and struggled to find himself. Speaking to TyC Sports after scoring two goals in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Honduras, Messi said:
“I feel good, different from last year and I knew it was going to be like that. Last year, as I’ve already said, I had a bad time, I never finished finding myself but this year is different. I’ve arrived with a different head, more accommodated to the club, to the dressing room, to the game, to my teammates. The truth is I feel very good and I’m enjoying myself again.”
Lionel Messi joined PSG in the summer of 2021 and contributed just 11 goals and 14 assists in his first season at the club.
Edited by Ezekiel Olamide
