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Established 1961 15 Sports Tuesday, April 13, 2021 Pochettino pleads for time at PSG but he might not need it

PARIS: Mauricio Pochettino has repeatedly said done. But what kind of job has the 49-year-old “It’s normal that after three months we might have he needs time to put his mark on Paris Saint- done so far at PSG and is he justifying the decision some inconsistency because consistency comes over Germain and it was always going to be a case of to sack Tuchel? a whole season,” Pochettino said last week. “Maybe getting through the first few months unscathed. The On the one hand the away results in Europe what I say can be considered an excuse but the real- Argentine was hired as the man to win the have been stunning, on the other hand they were ity is that any management team needs time to work Champions League for the Qatar-owned club after fortunate not to be torn apart by in the and get its ideas across and for us we haven’t had predecessor took them to last sea- home leg. Their form in has sometimes been that time yet. We are trying to optimize what we son’s final only to lose to Bayern Munich. poor given PSG’s resources, which go beyond the have and get the best possible results until the end Three months on from his appointment on an simple fact of possessing the two most expensive of the season.” initial 18-month deal and he remains on course to players in the world in and Kylian Mbappe. PSG have been devastating away from home, deliver European success, possibly at the cost of where they can best harvest the searing pace of missing out on the Ligue 1 title, something taken for Mbappe delivers in big games Mbappe on the break. They have won their last nine granted in Paris. The former Tottenham Hotspur Four defeats in 15 league games does not com- away games, scoring 26 goals in the process. boss has overseen two stunning away wins in the pare favorably to four losses in 17 under Tuchel ear- Mbappe has scored stunning goals in big matches in Champions League, 4-1 at Barcelona and 3-2 at lier in the season. They are three points behind lead- Marseille and Lyon, bagged a hat-trick in Barcelona Bayern last week in their quarter-final first leg. ers Lille with six games remaining, and the prospect and claimed a brace in Munich. After ousting the Catalans 5-2 on aggregate in of them failing to win the title for just the second In contrast the Parisians have lost their last the last 16, PSG are therefore well placed to elimi- time in nine seasons is real. three home league matches, their worst run since nate the holders and progress to the semi-finals A PSG coach will ultimately be judged on results 2007. Neymar, meanwhile, has often been injured, MUNICH: Paris Saint-Germain’s Argentinian head when they host Bayern in tonight’s return. in Europe, if only because domestic success is sup- or suspended. It has not always been convincing, coach Mauricio Pochettino reacts from the sidelines Manchester City could lie in wait in the last four. posedly a given. Then again, the last time PSG but if PSG can hold off Bayern then Pochettino during the UEFA Champions League quarter-final first “It was important to beat Barcelona but on changed coach midway through the season was in will be a step closer to delivering the trophy the leg football match between FC Bayern Munich and Tuesday we will be playing the team that I think is 2011-12, when replaced Antoine Qataris really want less than six months after Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in Munich, southern the best in the world,” Pochettino told Canal Plus Kombouare and his team finished second to arriving, and it might turn out he doesn’t need that Germany, on April 7, 2021. —AFP on Saturday in a way of stressing that the job is not Montpellier. time after all. —AFP

him the youngest player to captain Chelsea ‘Teacher’s pet’ since John Terry when he skippered the Blues against Luton in the FA Cup in Mount emerges as January. Ironically that proved to be Lampard’s Tuchel’s star pupil last game in charge as Tuchel replaced the Spurs to take action sacked Chelsea legend just days later. LONDON: Harshly derided as a “teacher’s Mount had started the previous 10 games, after Korean star pet” earlier this season, Chelsea midfielder so when Tuchel left him on the bench for his Mason Mount heads into tonight’s first match against Wolves, it was interpret- Champions League showdown against ed as a sign the German would end the per- Son racially abused Porto firmly established as Thomas Tuchel’s ceived favoritism. star pupil. Despite an impressive rise to LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur are to take action after Korean star Son Heung-min was prominence over the last 18 months, Mount ‘Right mentality’ subjected to “abhorrent racist abuse” on has had to endure jibes from critics who However, that first impression was social media following Sunday’s 3-1 defeat by claimed he was only given a chance deceiving and Tuchel has come to rely on Manchester United. Son is the second Spurs because he was a favorite of Frank Mount, who is flourishing under the for- player in as many matches to suffer such Lampard. mer Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint- Mount played for Lampard on loan at abuse following Davinson Sanchez after the Germain boss. Mount’s importance to Derby in the 2018-19 campaign and was Chelsea was underlined by his superb fin- 2-2 draw with Newcastle United on April 4. given his debut under Son scored Spurs’s but was involved Lampard once he took over at Chelsea the ish in last week’s 2-0 Champions League quarter-final first leg against Porto. in a controversial incident when he went following season. With Lampard forced to down clutching his face after contact with rely on Chelsea’s academy prospects due When he was rested for the recent Premier League clash against West VILA NOVA DE GAIA: FC Porto’s players attend training session at the club’s training Scott McTominay. That resulted in an to a transfer ban, Mount was rarely left out ground of Olival, in Vila Nova de Gaia yesterday, on the eve of the UEFA Champions Bromwich Albion, Chelsea lacked his drive Edinson Cavani goal being ruled out and by a manager who appreciated a focused League quarter final second leg football match between FC Porto and Chelsea. —AFP post-match criticism of the Korean by approach that belied his tender age. and were thrashed 5-2 in the first defeat of Tuchel’s reign. Mount’s next chance to United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The 22-year-old’s energetic, impactful “Another matchday and more abhorrent performances soon earned him a regular take center stage comes in the return Tuchel said. “Mason has the right mentali- assists this season and is the youngest racial abuse suffered by one of our players,” place in Gareth Southgate’s England team meeting with Porto as Chelsea look to ty and the right attitude towards training Chelsea player ever to score in a said a Spurs statement. “This has again been as well. It was Southgate’s selection of reach the Champions League semi-finals and games. And he has the right attitude Champions League knockout match. Mount instead of the more flamboyant for the first time since 2014. towards success. He’s got both feet on the Encouragingly for Tuchel, Mount reported to the platforms and we shall now Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish that Tuchel acknowledged Mount’s grow- ground, and he’s open enough and hungry knows he still has plenty of room for undertake a full review alongside the especially infuriated the Chelsea star’s ing value to a team hoping to finish in the to learn. It’s very difficult for me to com- improvement. Premier League to determine the most effec- doubters. Premier League’s top four and win the pare him to different players in different “I’m always working on my finishing. I tive action moving forward.” Suddenly forced to defend himself Champions League and FA Cup this sea- positions, and different players in the don’t think you can work on it enough,” Tottenham said last week they wanted against social media claims he was a son. “The finish was clinical, it was excel- same position from different clubs. But he said. “In training, I’m trying to shoot as “social media platforms to take action” after “teacher’s pet”, Mount handled the ludi- lent from Mason. He has the quality to do Mason is a very important player for us. A much as I can because that’s always a part the abuse of Colombian international crous criticism with dignity. Lampard held this, and in a quarter-final it is a big step key player for us.” of my game where I can improve on and defender Sanchez. Several clubs have Mount in such high esteem that he made for him and a big help for the team,” Mount now has eight goals and five score more goals.” —AFP already taken a stand. Scottish champions Rangers, and English Championship outfits Swansea and Birmingham announced on Friday they would boycott social media plat- Solskjaer wants Cavani to forms for a week. Spurs and Wales star Gareth Bale has said stay after Spurs display he would be in favour of boycotting social media if it was a mass movement. France’s LONDON: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer stay or wants to move on,” said record goalscorer Thierry Henry went fur- hailed Edinson Cavani’s performance in Solskjaer. “A performance like today, ther last month in quitting all social media Manchester United’s 3-1 win over we as a club have missed for a few until platforms do more to tackle racism and Tottenham and hopes he can persuade years, we have not had that number harassment. the striker to stay when his contract is nine for a long, long spell. Edinson has Like many tech giants, Twitter is under up at the end of the season. The 34- been working so hard to get fit and we increasing scrutiny for facilitating torrents of year-old Uruguayan scored United’s can see the boys played to his invective, commonly from anonymous second goal with an excellent diving strengths as well. We have had open accounts, in posts that are often racist or header in Sunday’s come-from-behind and honest meetings and it’s no secret misogynistic. Twitter said in a statement in victory and had an earlier effort con- we want to keep him.” March “there is no room for racist abuse” on troversially ruled out. Cavani arrived at Cavani took his tally to eight goals LONDON: Manchester United’s Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani heads the ball and its platform and it was working to crack Old Trafford as a free agent last in 29 appearances for the club in a scores during the English Premier League football match between Tottenham Hotspur down on abuse against footballers. October on a deal until the end of the season marred by injuries. He also and Manchester United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, on Sunday. —AFP However, they have defended permitting campaign, with the option of a further served a three-match Football accounts where an individual uses a pseudo- year. Unlike most extension clauses, it Association ban for using a racial term “I don’t think it is any secret that Manchester and England and he is nym. “We believe everyone has the right to has to be agreed by both parties in a social media post and apologized this has been a difficult year for every- contemplating and thinking long and share their voice without requiring a govern- before it can be triggered and there is for any unintentional offence caused. one,” he said. “With the pandemic, it hard about what he wants to do. I ment ID to do so,” they said. “Pseudonymity speculation that Cavani could move to However, Solskjaer says it has been the has not been possible to have friends understand. He knows what we want, I has been a vital tool for speaking out in Argentine giants . inability to travel and see family or for over, you can’t have family over with- want him at Old Trafford in front of a oppressive regimes, it is no less critical in “Fantastic performance, we are them to visit due to the coronavirus out quarantine. He has not been able to full Stretford End scoring a header like democratic societies.” —AFP awaiting his decision if he wants to pandemic which has upset Cavani. experience the fantastic culture of today. Let’s wait and see.” —AFP