Coach Mauricio Pochettino dared to replace Lionel Messi for Lyon – now it is revealed that the initially angry Argentine has suffered a knee bruise.
Paris Saint-Germain, leader of the French league without losing points, will have to do without his Argentine access Lionel Messi for the time being. As the club announced on Tuesday, Messi, 34, suffers from a bruise above his left knee. This was shown by an MRI examination. Messi will be out of the Ligue 1 match on Wednesday at FC Metz (9 p.m., live on DAZN).
Messi was replaced after a good 75 minutes in PSG’s 2-1 win in the top game against Olympique Lyon on Sunday. This sparked discussion because Messi then clearly showed his anger at coach Mauricio Pochettino’s decision. Messi didn’t seem to want to return Pochettino’s handshake and – unlike his teammates on the bench – didn’t cheer when the winning goal fell at the last second.
“The priority is the player’s well-being,” says Pochettino
Immediately after the game, Pochettino had stated with reference to the 35 professional squad that he was there as a coach to make decisions. Messi had assured him that “everything was fine”. Now it sounded a little different. The coach said that Messi was seen holding his knees shortly before the substitution: “Based on all the information we had, we made the decision to replace him.”
The substitution had nothing to do with Messi’s performance. “The truth is, we were very happy with him. He played a very good first half. The only thing missing to top it off was a goal.”
Pochettino expressed understanding for the media excitement surrounding the Messi substitution. “Of course I understand the situation and accept it,” he said. “But: The priority is the player’s well-being and in this case we thought it would be better for him to go out after 75 minutes.” Alluding to Messi’s irritated expression, Pochettino said that Messi “like all great champions always want to be on the pitch and that is understandable. I take it easy.”