Paris Saint-Germain kicked off their Coupe de France knockout stage fixture against OGC Nice; however, there was controversy regarding the starting eleven for the capital club before kick-off.
Despite the match being a win or go home, manager Mauricio Pochettino elected an eleven that didn’t include Kylian Mbappé. The 23-year-old played 26 minutes, and plenty of people ripped the Argentine manager for his decision to leave Mbappé off the starting group.
Nonetheless, Pochettino defended his decision to have the forward come off the bench during his press conference with the media.
“Kylian suffered from discomfort during the last days of training. The advice we had, and the deal made, was not to have him start and just let him come in for 30 or 35 minutes,” Pochettino said.
“On the game, I think we were better than Nice, and we deserved to win. But we lacked enough to create chances and score. We didn’t create enough to score and win the game before the penalty shootout. Afterward, it’s a matter of lottery, as for each team, it can happen.”
