Though the plaudits and headlines were stolen by brace-scoring teenager Kylian Mbappé and, to a lesser extent, Antoine Griezmann, who between them made life difficult for a slow and aging Argentina midfield and defence, Manchester United midfield Paul Pogba put on arguably his finest display in a French shirt to date as part of a thrilling 4-3 last 16 victory for Les Bleus yesterday afternoon.
In all honesty, the scoreline reflects a fair tighter affair than it actually was with Pogba making an excellent inside turn on the right-hand flank and laying an inch-perfect pass with the outside of his foot that almost allowed Olivier Giroud to make it 5-2, before Sergio Agüero pulled one back in the dying minutes of stoppage time and handed La Albiceleste a slim chance of forcing extra time.
It wasn’t to be however and once the full time whistle was blown, Pogba showed class in not overdoing his celebrations and instead immediately heading over to console Lionel Messi, for whom this could have been the last roll of the dice with regards to lifting the World Cup for his country and emulating the great Diego Maradona.
Asked later in the tunnel what he had said to the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, the 25-year-old didn’t answer directly but explained “We [France] have played against the best player in the world.”
“I’ve been watching him for ten years to learn from him. He makes me love football. He’s always going to be an idol for me.” Pogba continued before expanding his thoughts.
“Its been more than 10 years since he became the best player in the world. He’s unique. He’s a unique size and what does with the ball is unique. He’s a pure left-footer,” Pogba remarked before adding further context, “I lost the 2015 Champions League final with Juventus against him and I’m happy to have beaten him today.”
“He must be sad. It could be his last World Cup, but he’ll remain in the heads of each football fan, each journalist, each person in the entire world forever,” Pogba concluded.
After brushing shoulders with his hero, Pogba, along with his teammates, must now focus on the task in hand on Friday against Uruguay, who likewise eliminated the other icon of the tournament on Saturday with a resounding 2-1 win over Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal.
Conceding just a single goal thus far, from a booming Pepe header, a stingy La Celeste defence led by Diego Godin and Josema Gimenez will be far less accommodating than their bordering rivals Argentina at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium.
