Arrogance or misunderstanding? Messi did not take the substitution and did not shake Pochettino’s hand

PSG welcomed Lyon at home in the sixth round of Ligue 1, Lionel Messi made his first appearance for the home fans. But he won’t remember this match fondly, as coach Pochettino substituted him in the 76th minute with the score at 1-1.

There probably aren’t many coaches in the world who would take Lionel Messi off the pitch for tactical reasons in a tie. But Mauricio Pochettino found the courage.

In the game against Lyon, Messi had a fairly decent first half, hitting the crossbar from a direct kick, but he failed to make his mark on the stat sheet. After the change of sides, however, the Argentine started to fade somewhat, he wasn’t much in the game and didn’t even take a penalty, from which Neymar equalized at 1: 1.

So in the 76th minute, Pochettino resorted to a decisive solution. He withdrew his compatriot as the first substitute and Achraf Hakimi came on in his place. The multiple Ballon d’Or winner did not take the substitution well and did not shake the coach’s hand. Fans immediately began to argue whether it was Messi’s arrogance or a simple misunderstanding.

Messi’s expression on the bench made it clear that the Argentine had definitely not counted on something like this.

Pochettino sent on Icardi, who scored in the 92nd minute to make it 2-1 after an assist from Mbappé. This substitution worked out perfectly. How did he assess the situation around Messi?

“Everyone knows we have a great team, we have 35 players. But there can only be 11 of them on the pitch. Sometimes people are happy with my decisions, sometimes not. Every coach is there to make difficult decisions,” Pochettino said at a press conference.

Source: Twitter, Livesport, PSG