Football Match: Mauricio Pochettino, the coach of Paris Saint-Germain, said the decision not to call a foul on Karim Benzema for Real Madrid’s first goal on Wednesday “changed everything” in his team’s Champions League demise. When Benzema scored the first goal of his hat-trick just after the hour mark at the Santiago Bernabeu, the French giants were cruising at 2-0 on aggregate, but they went on to lose 3-1 on the night and 3-2 in the last-16 encounter. Pochettino, on the other hand, was enraged that PSG was not awarded a free-kick for Benzema’s challenge on Gianluigi Donnarumma after the latter lingering on the ball.
“It’s simple to explain what happened. On the first goal, Donnarumma was fouled, and it altered everything “Pochettino spoke to Canal+ about the situation.
“It’s hard not to talk about this big refereeing error, which I don’t understand and I won’t forgive.
“I don’t understand why the referee didn’t call for VAR. From then on everything changed in the stadium. Our players were upset, even if we must recognise that we made mistakes.”
When Donnarumma miskicked under pressure, France forward Benzema made it plain that he did not believe it was a foul.
“It wasn’t a foul at all,” he told RMC Sport. “I pushed him, he paused, and then he dropped the ball.”
PSG, still looking for their first Champions League title, conceded in the final moments, with Benzema’s winning goal coming just 11 seconds after his second.
Despite his team’s 13-point lead at the top of Ligue 1, Pochettino’s status will now be closely scrutinised.
“The rest of the season is going to be very difficult,” said the Argentinian, who led Tottenham to 2019 final but lost to Liverpool.
“The Champions League has been PSG’s goal for years, everyone knows it. We know the fans are going to be pissed off, we know that.”
After bringing in a slew of new players last year, including Lionel Messi, Achraf Hakimi, Donnarumma, and Sergio Ramos, PSG was largely expected to finally end their Champions League drought.
“We were in a good position to advance in the Champions League, and we believed we might win it with this squad,” stated sporting director Leonardo.
“We must recognise our failures, our issues, and our inability to deal with adversity.”
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