The Argentinian coach announced at a press conference that Neymar was ready to start this Saturday against Nantes.
He also responded to criticism aimed at Lionel Messi, to defend his compatriot.
How do you feel after this success against Real Madrid?
MAURICIO POCHETTINO.
I feel good.
I'm focused on the next game, it's an important match for us.
I hope we will continue to grow as a team.
In which camp do you position yourself regarding the criticism aimed at Messi?
Do you think he could lose confidence after his missed penalty?
I don't read what is written about Messi.
But it's the best in the world.
Leo Messi is football.
A player like him, with his experience, cannot lose confidence for a missed penalty.
.
If we think that, it's because we don't understand this sport.
As I said, he had a very good game, he found positions, his recoveries were numerous…
Read also“I find the criticism of Messi excessively harsh”, the tactical debrief of PSG-Real by Olivier Echouafni
Can Neymar start tomorrow?
And how did he experience his recovery process?
Neymar has the possibility to start tomorrow.
He trained well after the 20 minutes against Madrid.
He was full of energy and motivation.
He worked hard to get back to his best, and was very conscientious every step of the way.
Now you have to leave behind all these little problems.
Can Mbappé play on the right side of the attack?
And does he want it?
We are a technical staff with a lot of flexibility in attacking positions.
We saw it at the end of the match against Madrid: everyone can play left axis, right axis, or in central position.
Players are given the freedom to swap, and they use it wonderfully.
How to keep this team unity that we saw against Madrid?
Each competition deserves to be analyzed in a different way.
We have a line of work that we stick to.
We are focused on giving our best and winning every game.
We have been working on certain bases for several weeks, and in matches like Lille or Madrid, we have seen the team progress.
We hope that we will maintain this by the end of the season.
This is the challenge!
On this subject, Nantes will ask us a lot of effort, because it will be a difficult match.
Will Donnarumma continue tomorrow?
And are you going to continue your work-study system?
We played 34 games.
In each match, we make a decision to know who will be number 1 and number 2 between Navas and Donnarumma.
We arrived in March with this method.
I believe it works well.
We have two top goalkeepers.
But, for the moment, we have not yet made the decision for tomorrow.
What are the repercussions of
the victory against Real
?
Personally, none.
It didn't change our plans.
We are working, as always, to find the best working atmosphere.
The group is focused on Saturday's game.