Pochettino's plan to beat Barcelona without Neymar

Posted Monday, February 15, 2021 by Marca.com

Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that he's putting his trust in his players to get Paris Saint-Germain through their Champions League tie with Barcelona.

The French giants will be without talisman Neymar when they travel to the Camp Nou for the first leg on Tuesday, though their coach has a plan in place.

"Of course we need some clear structures and ideas on how to attack and how to stop Barcelona getting at us," Pochettino told UEFA.com.

"But we always trust in the players to do their work in the best way possible and get a positive outcome."

Former Espanyol boss Pochettino was quizzed on how Ronald Koeman has turned the current Barcelona team around in recent weeks.

"I've seen Barcelona's entire evolution, first from my home in London, when Ronald took over," Pochettino added.

"It's clear that the team is moving to a different stage, to a different chapter. As soon as Ronald came in, he started working to get the best performance out of his team.

"Now, after seven months, Ronald has put his ideas in practice and the team knows what's expected by the coach.

"I see a solid team with some clear ideas and amazing football players.

"They're a team that knows how to compete, a team that's built to win. Their mindset is built to win like big clubs, like PSG, which is also a team which wants to compete and win."

Injury problems for PSG

Pochettino will travel to Barcelona without key players such as Neymar and Angel Di Maria available to him because of injury.

Kylian Mbappe is expected to spearhead the PSG attack in their absences, with Mauro Icardi, Moise Kean, Julian Draxler and Pablo Sarabia all possible starters.