Mauricio Pochettino has left Paris Saint-Germain with Nice boss Christophe Galtier lined up to replace him.
Pochettino, the former Tottenham and Southampton manager, has departed 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, Sky Sports reports.
But ultimately, it was PSG’s latest capitulation in the Champions League, the competition the Qatari owners crave so much, which has cost him his job.
PSG were 2-0 up on aggregate with only 45 minutes left to play in their last-16 tie against Real Madrid. But were undone by a 17-minute second-half hat-trick from Karim Benzema.
Pochettino was able to guide PSG to the semi-finals the season before, becoming only the second manager in the club’s history to do so under the current ownership, but they were eliminated by Manchester City.
Manchester United considered Pochettino for the manager’s position vacated by interim Ralf Rangnick at the end of the season, but instead opted to hire Erik ten Hag from Ajax.
Galtier, 55, guided Lille to the Ligue 1 title in 2020-21, before joining Nice, who went on to seal a fifth-place finish under him in the French top flight last season.
