Football: Pogba Quickly At Home On Second Man Utd Debut

Zeeshan Mehtab Published August 20, 2016 | 12:39 PM

MANCHESTER, United Kingdom, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Augst,2016) - Paul Pogba produced an assured display as he made his second Manchester United debut in Friday's 2-0 home win over Southampton following his world-record transfer from Juventus. The France international, 23, earned the approval of the Old Trafford crowd with some elegant touches and came close to scoring on several occasions as he completed the full 90 minutes. The rangy midfielder with the peroxide blond hair returned to United last week in a world-record 89 million Pounds (105 million Euros, $116 million) transfer from Juventus. Pogba, who had not played since France's 1-0 loss to Portugal in the Euro 2016 final on July 10, played alongside Marouane Fellaini at the base of midfield in a 4-2-3-1 system. He had only trained with his new team-mates for around 10 days and manager Jose Mourinho said before the game that he was not capable of producing a "super performance".

Mourinho had warned supporters not to expect Pogba to "dribble five players and score a wonder goal" with his first touch. The Frenchman's first involvement indeed proved forgettable, an embarrassing air-kick gifting possession to Southampton's Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, but he quickly caught up with the pace of the game. Pogba registered United's first shot on target, which was comfortably saved by Fraser Forster, and his inventive pass to Juan Mata culminated in Zlatan Ibrahimovic volleying wide. After Ibrahimovic's brace had put United 2-0 up, Pogba went close three times, heading over the bar from Mata's 64th-minute corner and flashing a couple of shots wide.