Out is Mauricio Pochettino and in is 55-year-old Christophe Galtier, who has been more than a capable manager in Ligue 1. Galtier enters his new job after one season at Nice and before that nearly three years at Lille, where he won the league in 2020/21 with USMNT star Tim Weah.
When it comes to PSG, Galtier is one of the few managers with a winning record against PSG. Galtier’s Lille tied and defeated the French power, while coaching Nice his team was able to get two draws and a win over Lionel Messi and company.
He also had to face a six-month suspension after an incident that took place in 2000 while he was an assistant coach at Olympique de Marseille. The incident involved another player who went on to become a great manager, former DC United DP Marcelo Gallardo.
Christophe Galtier suspended six months for brawl with Marcelo Gallardo
It all took place in 2000 when Monaco, the team Gallardo played for, and Olympique de Marseille played each other. Gallardo wrote in his autobiography that Galtier “attacked” him in the entrance tunnel, but the new PSG boss claims that Gallardo insulted him and hit him, all he did was “react”.
In his book Gallardo wrote of the incident: “The first half ended… and we went into the tunnel. At that time, it was not customary to go out altogether. And then the ambush came. It turns out that there were some private security guys at the tunnel door… I was one of the last to enter the tunnel and that’s when I felt a ‘pack!’, as if a door was closed, and yes security had cut access off to the tunnel entrance. Galtier was waiting for me and said something to me in Spanish and he went on to grab my hair. He elbowed me in the middle of the face, security came from behind, they grabbed me with an arm around my neck, the Marseille players came and began to hit me from the front without stopping… I don’t know, it must have been about 15 or 20 seconds that they kicked me and punched me from all sides”
Marcelo Gallardo coach of River Plate (Photo by Marcelo Endelli/Getty Images)
The brutal incident led to the now PSG boss being suspended from the pitch for six months while the Argentine was given only a one game ban. Since the incident Galtier has gone on to win two championships in France as a coach while Gallardo has won 15 championships as a manager, 1 with Nacional of Uruguay and an astonishing 14 with River Plate of Argentina. Two of them being the Copa Libertadores.
PSG is Galtier’s biggest job to date, while Gallardo is something of a Sir Alex Ferguson at Los Millionarios, it has been reported that Gallardo after 2022 will most likely take a job in Europe or a national team job, last being linked with Uruguay in 2021.
In a similar incident in 2008 Gallardo elbowed Landon Donovan in the nose, causing it to bleed when DC United played the Los Angeles Galaxy in MLS play.
