Paul Pogba shines on Juventus debut - 315 days after final Man Utd game
Carlo Garganese
- 1 Mar 2023 08:48 GMT
- 3 min read
Paul Pogba has finally made his Juventus debut, 315 days after he last played an official game of football.
Pogba came off the bench on 68 minutes in the Turin Derby on Tuesday evening.
The scores were level at 2-2 and Pogba immediately inspired Juventus to take the lead for the first time in the game just three minutes later.
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There was a notable surge in energy around the stadium and within the team when Pogba entered the pitch.
He had an impressive substitute appearance with some beautiful touches and even had a goal-bound shot blocked by a Torino defender.
Juventus had struggled to control the midfield all game but this changed when Pogba came on. The most important thing was he came through the 22-minute cameo without any phsyical issues.
Pogba’s injury hell
Pogba had not kicked a football this season since his free transfer move back to Juventus from Manchester United last summer.
He had not played competitively since April 19, 2022, a 4-0 thrashing for Man Utd by Liverpool. That was 315 days ago.
In September, the 29-year-old underwent surgery for a torn meniscus that he suffered during the summer and which had not responded to conservative treatment.
He tried to recover in time for the World Cup with France but then suffered a thigh injury prior to the finals.
Pogba then suffered a number of setbacks in December and the start of January before slowly working his way back to fitness.
He was set to return at the start of February in the Coppa Italia clash against Lazio, having sat on the bench a few days earlier in the defeat to Monza.
However, Pogba picked up another injury in training before the Lazio game. This ruled him out for almost another month before he finally played against Torino.
How many injuries has Pogba had?
From the start of the 2019-20 season until now, Pogba has sustained 11 different injuries that have kept him sidelined.
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In total he has missed a whopping 123 club games due to injury or illness during that time. The number rises to almost 150 when we include national team matches.
In the 2019-20 season, Pogba made just 16 Premier League appearances after two separate ankle problems forced him to miss 40 games in all competitions that campaign.
In 2021-22, Pogba had another long stretch on the treatment table from November to February due to a hamstring injury. He then saw his Man Utd career ended in April by a calf injury.
Since returning to Turin, Pogba had not played a single competitive match until Tuesday. He featured for 45 minutes in a pre-season friendly against Guadalajara before injuring his meniscus in training the very next day in the United States.
