Paul Pogba is a divisive football figure, both on and off the pitch, but rarely who can argue he’s influential either way.
Paul Pogba vs Argentina pre-game motivational speech
Paul Pogba has shown he loves to be at the centre of attention over the years. Sometimes it’s a bad thing and sometimes it’s a good thing. In the case of France’s round 16 matchup with Argentina, it was a positive thing. A TF1 documentary which followed Les Bleus’ path to the World Cup title in Russia entitled “Les Bleus 2018: au cœur de l’épopée russe” (“The Blues 2018, at the heart of their Russian epic”) had unique access into the team’s dressing room. Before the game against Argentina, Pogba came in and gave a passionate team talk gone viral since the day it was published.
“Today, we run ourselves to death out on the pitch. No one lets anyone else down. No one drops off. On the pitch, we’re all together. Good guys and warriors. Soldiers. We’re going to kill them today, these Argentines. Messi or no Messi, we don’t give a s—.”
“We’re coming to win the f—— World Cup. We have to get through this to do that. Come on boys!”
This is part of the hair-raising speech which portrays Pogba as a leader and proves to the doubters who didn’t want him in the starting lineup performances on the pitch aren’t the only ones that matter.
Didier Deschamps paid no attention to the public outcry to bench the Manchester United midfielder, starting him in all but one match (against Denmark). Paul Pogba repaid him with motivational speeches like this one:
“The details boys. Fellas! We want warriors on the pitch today,” Pogba said. “I don’t want to go home tonight. Me, this evening, I’m not going home. Tomorrow, we’re staying at the hotel.”
“We’re going to eat that f—— sauteed pasta again. I don’t give a s—, we’re not going home. We’re going to finish happy. I want us to have a party tonight.”
And a goal in the final.
