"That is where he has existed for the past 26 months, since his final game for Juventus in September 2023: equally at the centre of our gaze and absent from it. Between his four-year doping ban, reduced to 18 months on appeal, his release from Juventus, and the extortion and kidnapping case that led to his brother being sentenced to three years in prison, his name has been constantly uttered but his face has been rarely seen"
"at least not on a football pitch. His appearance at Roazhon Park on Saturday night was primarily an act of demythification, a moment when he escaped the realm of the collective imagination to become mortal once more. It was also a moment when the angel beat the devil. In my head, there was sometimes an angel that said: You'll come back,' and a demon that said: It's over,' but my wife pushed me and I stayed focused."
"I wanted my kids to see me on the pitch, said Pogba in July, upon signing a two-year deal at Monaco. But his arrival at Monaco was not an endpoint in itself. He wanted to make his Monaco and Ligue 1 debut against his formative club, Le Havre, on the first day of the season, but the club's CEO, Thiago Scuro, provided a dose of realism. The Brazilian suggested he would need a three-month programme before returning to full fitness."
Paul Pogba had been absent from competitive football for 26 months since his final Juventus appearance in September 2023. A four-year doping ban, later reduced to 18 months on appeal, his release from Juventus, and an extortion and kidnapping case that resulted in his brother's three-year sentence dominated his public profile. Monaco signed him to a two-year deal, but club officials advised a three-month program to reach full fitness. Minor injuries, including a quadriceps issue and an ankle sprain, repeatedly delayed his debut. A nine-minute cameo at Roazhon Park marked a symbolic demythification and the start of a fragile return to the pitch.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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