When Paul Pogba tried this little accomplice sombrero on Mahdi Camara at the end of the match, the Rennes midfielder couldn’t help but smile. Everything was said in this gesture. After 811 days without playing, after the suspension, the doubts and the endless wait, “La Pioche” still had this audacity at the end of his cleats. This Friday evening at Roazhon Park, Monaco was crushed 4-0, but Pogba had the luxury of trying. Not to tease, just for fun. To feel again that thrill of a successful dribble, that little moment of magic that only the very great know how to create. In the 85th minute, when he came on in place of Mamadou Coulibaly to the applause of the Breton public, no one really knew what to expect. Were we going to see a diminished, hesitant player, still marked by two years off the field? The answer came quickly.
Pogba, the gestures are still there
Pogba did not try to hide. In his second minute on the field, he recovered a ball and immediately tried the vertical pass to alert his attacker. Failed, but the intention was clear. The Rennes public applauded, as one salutes an artist who refuses to play small arm. Then in the 92nd, new sequence: dry elimination of an opponent, blind pass forward. The automatisms are still there, buried under these months of inactivity but very present.
Between these moments of daring, he certainly played simple, chaining sideways passes to regain confidence. His partners were constantly looking for him, aware that each ball touched by the former bianconero was a small victory. But what struck me was this desire to create, to try, to take risks. As if he wanted to make up for lost time in a few minutes. Monaco also reduced the score in these moments, scoring its only goal of the evening while Pogba was on the pitch. A coincidence no doubt, but a nice wink of fate.
811 days later… Paul Pogba put on his crampons again
An emotional return
The statistical anomaly displayed by the broadcaster well summed up the man’s extraordinary career: never had a player with more than 50 caps with the French team made his debut in Ligue 1. Pogba discovered the French elite at the age of 31, after having conquered England and Italy, after having lifted the World Cup. A career oddity which makes this return even more singular.
When the referee blew the whistle for the end of the match, Pogba collapsed in the middle of the field, face to the ground. A long prayer, far from the cameras and the noise. Just him and his gratitude for being able to play again. These few minutes played this evening say nothing about his real physical condition, nor about his ability to regain his former level. But they say the essential: Paul Pogba is back, and he has not lost this technical madness which makes him unique. The rest will come, or not. For the moment, French football has recovered one of its finest players. And this sombrero on Camara is the best proof of that.
