Mauricio Pochettino blames referee’s ‘big mistake’ for PSG’s collapse against Real Madrid

Rangnick comments on Pochettino to Man Utd links

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Mauricio Pochettino claimed a “big mistake” by the officials was to blame for Paris Saint-Germain’s shocking collapse against Real Madrid on Wednesday night. PSG surrendered a 2-0 lead on aggregate as Karim Benzema scored a second-half hat-trick to dump the French team out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage.

Everything seemed to be going to plan for PSG at half-time, with Mbappe adding to his late goal in the first leg to give the visitors a two-goal buffer at the Bernabeu.

PSG had the better of the first half and deservedly led through Mbappe’s clever finish into the near post past Thibaut Courtois.

But Real roared back into the tie after the break, with Benzema taking advantage of some calamitous defending to turn the tie around with three goals in just 17 minutes.

However, Pochettino believes the first goal of Benzema’s hat-trick should not have stood due to a foul on PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, who surrendered possession to Vinicius Junior.

“Real’s first goal changed the match,” he told Canal + in quotes translated from French.

“I wonder what the VAR is doing because for me there is something else. It’s a shame, when you see the action, there’s a foul.

“After that, the match changed. For 60 minutes we dominated, that goal changed everything.”

He added: “It’s impossible not to talk about this big mistake made by the referees. It’s hard not to accept. It’s incredible that this is happening in 2022.”

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Pochettino was referring to Benzema’s shoulder barge on Donnarumma, which allowed Vinicius to set up the striker to make it 2-1.

Luka Modric set up the 34-year-old to make it 2-2 thanks to a deflection from Marquinhos and the Brazilian defender’s botched clearance was then guided into the corner by Benzema just 12 seconds after the restart to complete the comeback.

Pochettino may have blamed the officiating but former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand had no doubts about who was at fault for the turnaround.

“This isn’t something that is a surprise because we have seen this time and again in the knockouts of the Champions League as PSG press the self destruct button,” he said on BT Sport.

“It is mentality, maybe the culture of the club. This isn’t something that is new at the club.

“They have fantastic talent in the squad but when the mentality isn’t right on the day, you have to stay in the game.

“They didn’t do that. It is part of the ingrained culture at PSG.”

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