Pochettino says PSG not out for revenge against Bayern

From Left: Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Angel Di Maria and Mitchel Bakker joke during a training session in Munich yesterday. (AFP)

Paris Saint-Germain coach Mauricio Pochettino insists last year’s final defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich will not feature in his pre-match team talk when the teams clash again in the last eight of this season’s competition today. “Honestly it is not a reference point for us. We were not there, we were just spectators. I don’t think that one-off game has much to do with this two-legged quarter-final,” Pochettino told reporters from Munich.  “Revenge exists in sport but for us it’s more of a challenge to beat such a strong team, maybe the best in the world. It’s a source of motivation,” he added. The Argentine was appointed by the French champions along with his backroom staff in January to succeed Thomas Tuchel, who oversaw their narrow 1-0 defeat against Bayern behind closed doors in Lisbon last August. “Bayern are the European and world champions and have shown they are the best team in Europe just now so the challenge of beating them motivates us,” Pochettino added. Bayern have cruised to this stage of the competition and are on course to win the German Bundesliga for the ninth season running, but their prospects of beating PSG appear compromised after leading scorer Robert Lewandowski was ruled out of the tie with a knee injury. German international winger Serge Gnabry is also set to miss both legs after testing positive for Covid-19. However PSG, who are three points behind leaders Lille in Ligue 1, are also missing several players, with Marco Verratti absent with Covid-19 and the likes of Mauro Icardi, Leandro Paredes, Layvin Kurzawa and Alessandro Florenzi also sidelined. “We live in a difficult world with this virus and with injuries. For every coaching team, the best quality you can have is the ability to adapt and we will adapt to these absences,” insisted Pochettino. Meanwhile the former Tottenham Hotspur coach said Neymar was feeling no ill effects from his late sending-off against Lille at the weekend in his first start in a month and a half after injury. “After six weeks he has started to play again. On Saturday he was very excited to play, but of course he’s a very emotional player,” Pochettino said. Gnabry out of PSG clash with Covid-19 Munich: Holders Bayern Munich, who already have top-scorer Robert Lewandowski sidelined by injury, will also be without Covid-19 case Serge Gnabry when they face Paris Saint Germain in today’s repeat of the 2020 Champions League final. Gnabry “has tested positive for the coronavirus. The FC Bayern forward is okay and isolating at home,” the club said in a statement ahead of the quarter-final, first leg at home with the return in Paris next Tuesday. Earlier, Bayern head coach Hansi Flick had said Gnabry was suffering from a sore throat before the Covid confirmation. The 25-year-old had already contracted the virus last October. His latest positive test leaves Bayern without two key forwards for both legs against PSG. Lewandowski, voted FIFA’s best male player of 2020, is out with a knee injury after scoring 42 goals for Bayern this season including five in the Champions League. Flick said midfielder Marc Roca will also miss the first leg at the Allianz Arena after picking up an injury on Sunday in training. With Gabry out, his Germany team-mate Leroy Sane is set to play on the flanks along with Kingsley Coman, whose header last August sealed a 1-0 win over PSG in the 2020 Champions League final. While the French giants may be motivated to avenge that defeat in Lisbon, Flick played down the element of a rematch with Mauricio Pochettino having since replaced Thomas Tuchel as PSG’s head coach. “For Paris maybe, but not for us. It’s a new game, a new team and Paris has a new coach,” Flick said succinctly. Nevertheless there is plenty of respect from the Bayern camp for PSG, whose line-up boasts the talent of Brazil superstar Neymar and France forward Kylian Mbappe. Everyone knows “what attacking power they have, with players like Neymar or Mbappe who can decide a game at any time,” said Bayern board member and former club captain Oliver Kahn. “They are an absolute top opponent.”