Mauricio Pochettino needed less than two weeks to win his first trophy with Paris Saint-Germain but his new team are still doing the chasing in Ligue 1, a point behind leaders Lyon heading into the second half of the season.
PSG go to Angers on Saturday fresh from beating Marseille 2-1 in Lens in midweek to win the Champions Trophy, the traditional curtain-raiser to the French season moved to the middle of winter as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on football.
The game conveniently came just 11 days after Pochettino returned to the club where he once played, allowing him to win the first trophy more than a decade after his coaching career began but after just three games in charge of the Qatar-owned club.
“My thoughts are with (former coach) Thomas Tuchel and his staff, who allowed us to play this match,” Pochettino said, with a nod to the man who guided PSG to a clean sweep of domestic honours in France last season but was sacked in late December.