Paris: A few days before the Qatar World Cup, France suffered a setback. Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba will miss the World Cup. The actor suffered a knee injury. Apart from this, it is reported that the femur is also injured.
Superstar Pogba’s absence from the World Cup will further hurt the reigning world champions. Pogba is the player who played a crucial role in France’s World Cup victory in 2018. Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kan was also reported to miss the World Cup due to injury.
Pogba suffered a knee injury last July. The surgery was not performed that day as the World Cup was just around the corner. However, as the injury did not heal, he was forced to undergo surgery in September. The doctors have now informed that it will take some time to recover completely from the injury. With this, the player’s manager Raphael Pimenta has announced in a statement that he will not play the World Cup.
The manager informed that he decided to withdraw from the World Cup on the basis of the medical examination report conducted in Torino and Pittsburgh last day. The statement also indicated that he will not play for Juventus before the World Cup as he still needs time to recover from the injury. The player who came to Juventus from Manchester United has yet to hit the ball in a single game for the team.
Pogba last played for the national team last March. France won the friendly match against South Africa 5-0. After the injury, he started training at the Juventus camp last month. However, knee pain returned and surgery was performed in September.
The World Cup begins on November 20 in Qatar. France’s first match is against Australia on the 22nd. Denmark and Tunisia are the other teams in Group ‘D’ which includes France. With the official confirmation, the team will return to Doha without Pogba.
Summary: Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba will miss France’s World Cup defence in Qatar as he needs more time to recover from a knee surgery