Frustrated Paris Saint-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel appeared to poke fun at Arsenal following Saturday’s heavy International Champions Cup defeat.
Still missing the majority of their World Cup stars, the notably weakened French champions fielded a youthful side at Singapore’s National Stadium and were soundly beaten 5-1 by a team coached by former manager Unai Emery.
Arsenal, by contrast, were able to field a strong XI captained by Mesut Ozil and also featuring the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan as well as new signings Bernd Leno, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Matteo Guendouzi.
Paris Saint-Germain were thrashed by Arsenal in Singapore despite Christopher Nkunku’s goal
Mesut Ozil (R) scored the opener as Unai Emery secured a simple 5-1 win over his former team
PSG boss Thomas Tuchel was still without most of his first-team stars for the ICC clash in Asia
PSG were actually level on the hour mark after Ozil’s opener had been cancelled out by a Christopher Nkunku penalty awarded after Timothy Weah was felled by Sead Kolasinac.
However, a mostly inexperienced group capitulated thereafter as Alexandre Lacazette (2), Rob Holding and Eddie Nketiah all netted to make it an emphatic victory for Emery over his previous employers.
Speaking after the match in southeast Asia, Tuchel evidently felt that Arsenal’s superior selection options gave them an obvious advantage in the pre-season friendly.
‘Yes, clearly,’ he said, according to the Mirror. He then added: ‘I think they [Arsenal] are playing in the Europa League this season, right?’
The frustrated German manager aimed something of a dig at Arsenal following the match
Arsenal will indeed enter Europe’s secondary club competition again in 2018/19 having finished sixth in Arsene Wenger’s final season at the helm, 12 points adrift of the top four.
Last season, they reached the semi-finals before losing to Atletico Madrid, who also beat them on penalties in the International Champions Cup on Thursday.
Tuchel was actually one of the managers linked with Arsenal following the initial announcement of Wenger’s departure, but insisted on Friday that timings meant he was never close to succeeding the Frenchman.
Following that defeat to the Gunners, PSG, domestic treble winners in France last term, take on Atletico in Singapore before meeting Monaco in the Trophee des Champions. Their Ligue 1 opener is at home to Caen on August 12.