Thumbs up in the direction of the press gallery, Paul Pogba expresses satisfaction with a job well done. The recipient of his gesture is another world champion, Robert Pirès. Unlike the one who is now a television commentator, criticized by coach Aimé Jacquet during a famous scene at the 1998 World Cup, Pogba did not have to beef up his game at half-time in the France match. -Germany, Tuesday June 15.
On the contrary, the Mancunien – elected man of the match – dominated his subject at the Allianz Arena in Munich. Radiant after the victory won by the Blues (1-0) for their first match in the Euro, the midfielder lingers on the lawn, makes a phone call with a smile on his face and lends himself to selfies – at a sanitary distance regulatory – with a few supporters. A vibrant “Pogba, we love you! »Punctuates the scene.
As he has become accustomed to since Euro 2016 and even more so the 2018 World Cup, as soon as the France team opens its season of major competitions, Paul Pogba puts on his clothes of light. As if he were the principal dancer of the Paris opera, the Seine-et-Marnais splashes the football spectacle with its mastery.
Bitten by Antonio Rüdiger
In Germany, for more than an hour of play, he stunned his opponents with his technical gestures and his activity – twelve balls recovered from the opposing team. As an entrechats, he notably offered the public an opening from the outside of the foot which led to the tricolor goal.
Impressively easy, the midfielder shone so much that he annoyed a friend. At the end of the first act of the Pogba recital, the German defender Antonio Rüdiger was seized with an irresistible urge to bite the artist. An unusual gesture not sanctioned by the arbitration and that the French minimized after the meeting, again with elegance: ” This happened. I am not here to have it suspended. I think he bit me a bit. It may be friendly as we know each other well… ”
With his club Manchester United, Paul Pobga, however, remained over two complicated seasons: sometimes on the substitutes’ bench, other times injured and often irregular, a sort of intermittent on the show.
Under the blue jersey and under the orders of his coach, Didier Deschamps, the esthete never disappoints. “We’re used to that, to these big competitions. This is where we must be present, where we must again and again prove our status, he comments. Despite our title of world champion, we remain humble: humble in the technical work, in the aggressiveness and in the collective game. “
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