Tale of two halves: How Paul Pogba came of age but faded against Real Madrid

Real Madrid vs Juventus

Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba rued the mistake which allowed Real Madrid back in the game in Tuesday night’s 2-2 draw in the Champions League.

Martin Caceres’ sloppy back pass allowed Karim Benzema to play in Cristiano Ronaldo to make it 1-1 before Gareth Bale‘s goal was cancelled out by Fernando Llorente.

“We were facing a great team and saw that the moment we make one mistake, they hit us with pace,” Pogba told Sky Sport Italia.

The French midfielder fielded yet another impressive performance for Juve, as his career in Italy moves from strength to strength. English onlookers, particularly United fans, will be wondering how exactly he slipped through the grasps of the defending Premier League champions.

Although a Performance Score of just three suggests he did not have the most inspirational game, the Twittersphere was full of praise for the 20-year-old midfielder. The young enforcer put in an impressive shift against Cristiano Ronaldo and co, earning himself various plaudits along the way.

The Frenchman made very little defensive contribution versus Madrid. Having avoided making any form of tackle, Pogba’s solitary involvement at the back came in the form of a clearance in the 20th minute of the match. Against such an attacking side, you would expect a more defensive performance was needed from the midfielder. Perhaps if this had been the case, Juve would have conceded fewer goals and gone on to claim three points.

His attacking threat was much more obvious in the fixture. As can be seen from the graph above, the majority of time spent on the ball came just outside the Madrid penalty area, whilst the Heat Map below shows that the majority of the match was spent on the left hand-side of the opposition’s half.

Pogba made two key passes in total, although neither of these chances materialised into any form of real threat. The youngster’s biggest involvement in attack came when he was felled in the box from an untidy challenge by fellow Frenchman Raphael Varane. Arturo Vidal scored the consequent penalty to put Juve in the lead, just minutes before the half-time whistle.

His passing is the only real concern for Juventus, based on this performance. With an accuracy of just 76% and an average length of just 16 metres, this is a side to his game Pogba will really need to work on. The ability to find a team-mate is obviously a vital skill, however we have to consider his age. The ability will come with time and his development in Italy should allow him to master this.

The stats reflect poorly, but in reality Pogba’s performance was actually quite impressive. Juventus manager, Antonio Conte, would certainly like to have seen a more defensive performance from the midfielder, especially against such formidable opponents. However at the age of just 20, this balance between going forward and sitting back will eventually become a natural aspect of Pogba’s overall game.

The Frenchman has shown signs of pure class since the beginning of the season and his form in this fixture proved to be no exception, Pogba has a big future ahead of him and it is going to be an exciting venture watching his career unravel.