Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino revealed he will never manage Arsenal and Barcelona out of respect for his former clubs Tottenham Hotspur and Espanyol.
Pochettino started his managing career at Espanyol, where he became a big figure as manager. He later came to the Premier League, where he took charge of Southampton before getting appointed as Tottenham’s manager.
As Chelsea’s manager presently, who are also a rival of Tottenham, it will be exciting to see what kind of reception the Argentine manager will get when his side travels to White Hart Lane on Monday.
Chelsea’s performances under Pochettino appear to have increased significantly, but their inability to score has been the primary cause of their losses.
He will be hoping that his players make every chance count when he faces his former side, but the 51-year-old still has respect for Spurs, and when asked about which clubs he has never managed in his life, (h/t Evening Standard), he said:
“If you remember, I said clubs I’ll never manage was Arsenal because I considered them the worst enemies of Tottenham and Barcelona because of Espanyol.”
Since Tottenham and Arsenal are located in North London, it is naturally reasonable that he will never manage the Gunners. The same goes for Barcelona and Espanyol who are based in Catalonia as their games are called Catalonia Derby, so it makes sense why he will never manage the Blaugrana. But anything can happen in football since it’s so unpredictable. We never knew that Pochettino would become Chelsea’s manager who are also big rivals of Spurs.
It is becoming common place for players to join their direct rivals, and managers taking over as head coaches means that direct rivalry is no longer a major problem in modern football. But there are a few managers and players who still have reverence for their previous team and refuse to join their direct rivals.
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