Never doubted in Lionel Messi’s abilities says PSG manager Mauricio Pochettino

Paris Saint Germain manager Mauricio Pochettino revealed that he never doubted Lionel Messi’s abilities as a player and always considered him as the best in the world. The former Barcelona man delivered a big performance on Sunday against Lille and that made Pochettino laud the Argentinian magician.

Messi was far from his best during the initial months in Paris. He had a rather slow start to his PSG stint and some people were getting impatient. Messi delivered a masterclass against LOSC Lille in a Ligue 1 clash. He scored a goal and also assisted Presnel Kimpembe in PSG’s 5-1 win. The other goals were scored by Danilo Pereira and Kylian Mbappe. Whereas Sven Botman scored the only goal for Lille which resulted in only a consolation goal.

“I had no doubts, Leo is the best player in the world,” Pochettino said after the match.

“Like anyone, he needs time to adapt. He needed time to recover his best physical shape, after a month without playing because of the Covid.

“It’s important that Leo shows such participation and commitment,” Pochettino said in the post-match press conference.

Meanwhile, there were discussions over Mbappe’s future aswell. The Frenchman is still committed at PSG but he has kept his options open. He has not yet refused that he will be joining Real Madrid next season.

“We keep trying to ramp things up,” Mbappe told Amazon Prime. “Today it was a lot more complete, there was more movement, and more character as well.

He aims to win their UEFA Champions League knock out stage clash against Real Madrid and wants to know more about the club from the players.

“My decision is not made. I think that playing against Real Madrid changes a lot of things. Even though I’m free to do what I want right now, I’m not going to go and talk to the opponent or do those kinds of things. I’m focused on winning against Real Madrid, trying to make a difference and then we’ll see what happens,” Mbappe added.

However coming back to Messi, the Argentinian has scored six goals in all competitions this season for the Parisians. Although he started slowly with injury and later after contracting COVID, Messi is gradually getting to his groove in Paris.