Mauricio Pochettino has left Paris Saint-Germain with Nice boss Christophe Galtier lined up to replace him.
Pochettino, the former Tottenham and Southampton coach, has left the club despite leading PSG to the French title, winning by 15 points, the largest margin of a title-winning team in the top five leagues.
But in the end, it was PSG’s last capitulation to the Champions League, the competition that the owners of Qatar so long for, which has cost them their job.
PSG won 2-0 overall when there were only 45 minutes left to play in the round of 16 against Real Madrid. But they got rid of it with a hat-trick from Karim Benzema in the 17th minute of the second half.
Pochettino was able to lead PSG to the semi-finals the previous season, becoming only the second coach in the club’s history to do so with the current owner, but was eliminated by Manchester City.
Image: PSG have lined up Nice boss Christophe Galtier
Manchester United considered Pochettino to fill the vacancy for interim coach Ralf Rangnick at the end of the season, but instead opted to hire Erik ten Hag from Ajax.
Galtier, 55, led Lille to the Ligue 1 title in the 2020-21 season, before joining Nice, who last season finished fifth below him in the top French category.
Is Galtier right for PSG?
Image: Galtier’s Nice scored just 52 goals in 38 Ligue 1 games last season
An in-depth review of innovative data analysis of the top candidates to succeed Pochettino has raised concerns about Galtier’s suitability for PSG.
Carteret Analytics combines the data of raw coaches with its own custom algorithms to develop the qualification of directors of Carteret, a tool used by decision makers of football clubs to assess capacity, quality and potential of possible managerial appointments.
The complex analysis is based on the performance of the coaches during the last six seasons and then is weighed against expectations, the strength of opposing teams and various other factors such as styles and formations.
It is usually confidential information to help football club leaders, but they shared their analysis of PSG as part of a special study for Sky Sports.
Galtier has a much lower score than Pochettino or other top substitutes Zinedine Zidane and Jose Mourinho and his exceptionally defensive style contrasts with PSG’s usual approach.
Read the analysis here and see why Zidane would have been an ideal choice for the Paris club, if he were available, according to the study.
How have the previous managers faced each other after PSG?
Carlo Ancelotti – 1x King’s Cup (2014), 2x Champions League (2014, 2022), 1x Super Cup (2014), FIFA Club World Cup (2014), 1x Bundesliga (2017), 1x The League (2022 ).
Unai Emery – 1x Europa League finalist (2019), 1x Europa League (2021), 1x Champions League semi-finalist (2022).
Thomas Tuchel – 1x Champions League (2021), 1x Super Cup (2021), 1x UEFA Men’s Coach of the Year (2021), 1x FIFA’s best football coach (2021), 1x Club World Cup of FIFA (2021).