‘He can do whatever the hell he wants’.
When Roy Keane can’t find a fault in your performance, attire or celebrations you know you’ve had a special game.
Paul Pogba grabbed the World Cup by the unspeakables, dabbed with it and then took it back to France, via Manchester. In that sense It Came Home.
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While Kylian Mbappe got the hype and Luka Modric picked up the Golden Ball, Pogba’s ruthlessly dominant display in the middle of the park was arguably the deciding factor.
It laughed in the face of all the rubbish Pogba has to deal with and dismissed several myths Yer Da likes to trot out while sipping on a can of Carling in his favourite chair.
Yes, it’s just one game. But if you can make snap judgements on a Premier League game against Stoke then you certainly can for the World Cup final.
Paul Pogba can’t play without N’Golo Kante
Kante’s booking after 27 minutes summed up a surprisingly subdued performance from the Chelsea midfielder.
Steven N’Zonzi replaced him after 55 minutes, at which point France were 2-1 up and hanging on.
Four minutes later Pogba took centre stage. He dissected Croatia’s back four with the Pass of the Tournament, turning backs to the wall defence into attack with a flash of his right foot.
He followed the play and linked up with Antoine Griezmann before firing past Croatia goalkeeper Danijel Subasic at the second time of asking with his weaker left foot.
If anything, Pogba’s performance improved with Kante off the pitch.
Paul Pogba doesn’t score in big games
The World Cup final. World. Cup. Final. It doesn’t really get any bigger than that.
In the last seven games of the Premier League season Pogba scored once against Arsenal and twice in the Manchester derby.
The previous campaign he netted in the Europa League final. He’s also got a European Championship goal to his name. All in the last two years.
Not too shabby.
Paul Pogba doesn’t defend
No one made more interceptions during the World Cup final thank Pogba.
Only Croatia’s Marcelo Brozovic out tackled Pogba, while no French player managed more.
Not bad for a midfielder who can’t defend.
Paul Pogba only plays Hollywood passes
Pogba played the most successful passes in the World Cup final and finished the game with an 86% passing accuracy rate.
No player on either side created more key passes. Across the tournament Pogba had the highest number of fast forward passes, leaving defences little time to set themselves.
In fairness, his pass to Mbappe was pure Hollywood.