Mauricio Pochettino: "It's very important for us to keep aiming to win"

ON THE SQUAD'S MINDSET

"Verratti is back, and we have a lot of players available in midfield. We'll see whether we start any young players. Youth development is very important for the club, and the academy players will undoubtedly get more opportunities in the coming weeks."

ON THE RUN-IN

"We're ready for tomorrow's game, and it's very important for us to keep aiming to win and to go for the title. We also want to keep enjoying playing together and to play as well as possible."

ON CLERMONT

"This is a difficult league, and we need to focus on ourselves. Clermont will be wanting to play well, but I think that if we do our best, we'll win. We're our own worst enemy, but against Lorient, we were very good collectively. We need to keep putting in that effort and only rely on ourselves."

ON THE GAME

"We think that Clermont will be very compact, but that's why we need to do our best and to play as a team. We know that it'll be a difficult game. They're fighting for survival, and we know that it'll be tough, but we've worked well, and we're ready."

ON KYLIAN MBAPPÉ

"Thanks to his hard work, his commitment and the confidence that the whole squad has given him, he's having a terrific season. He's capable of great things. When we arrived last year, he wasn't having the best time, but he managed to bounce back and reach the level that he's at today."

on MARQUINHOS's form

"The whole squad suffered from being knocked out by Madrid, but you have to pick yourself up from that; the whole squad has to. He won't play against Clermont, as he has some physical issues. Marquinhos is a highly consistent player who always gives everything. He's a model captain, but he's experiencing some muscle discomfort and won't be with us tomorrow."

on SERGIO RAMOS

"We've thought about playing him tomorrow. It's an option for us, particularly as Marquinhos is out. We've still got a few hours to think about it."