Pochettino assures that Donnarumma did not make a mistake: “It was a clear foul by Benzema”

PSG says goodbye to the Champions League in the round of 16, after falling 3-1 at the hands of Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. The defeat caused deep sorrow in the Parisian squad and coach Mauricio Pochettino was the most uncomfortable with what happened and even criticized the VAR, assuring that Karim Benzema’s foul should have been sanctioned against Gianluigi Donnarumma in his first goal.

“There really is a feeling of a lot of injustice for the goal conceded. It was a clear foul by Benzema against Donnarumma. From there he made everyone’s emotional state change. We have not managed our emotions well after conceding that goal and we were too exposed against Real Madrid”, explained the DT at a press conference.

“I cannot consider a mistake when there was a foul and it was very clear. I speak of this after having seen the images at least 30-40 times, with different cameras and different angles”, added the Argentine strategist.

In the same way, Mauricio Pochettino criticized referee assistants in the technological area: “I don’t classify this action as a mistake by the goalkeeper, this is football and when you play in this competition, which is the highest at the continental level, the details count. This time it was against us, because the VAR did not observe it and it was decisive for what happened next”.

On the other hand, despite the defeat, the coach also highlighted that PSG’s performance in this key was solid. “We had three quarters of the tie in our favour, I think we were a better team. We leave with a tremendous blow, with a great disappointment of not having passed this key”, said the coach.

“Is not easy. We have made mistakes, but the most important is made by VAR. We cannot talk anymore now, we are very disappointed, we are going to try to get up and recover from the hard blow, it is a difficult moment for us. I’m not worried about the future, I live in the present and whatever will happen will happen”, sentenced Mauricio Pochettino.