I DON’T MIND HIM DANCING NOW, SAYS KEANE

PAUL POGBA has faced criticism for focusing on off-the-field distractions rather than football — but any talk of haircuts and dancing came second to his excellent performance last night. ‘I don’t mind Pogba dancing now,’ joked Roy Keane on ITV. ‘He’s entitled to have a dance now he’s won the World Cup. He can do whatever the hell he wants with his hair.’ Manchester United midfielder Pogba, 25, capped a superb tournament by dispatching France’s fine third goal at the end of a move he initiated. That led pundits to ask last night why Didier Deschamps seems able to get a quality out of him that his club manager Jose Mourinho cannot. Pogba’s former United team-mate Rio Ferdinand said: ‘He showed in this tournament he has it all — the defensive discipline and attacking — but it hasn’t come together yet in a Manchester United shirt. Mourinho has to unlock this Pogba at United. The reason why United paid all this money is because at Juventus he was affecting games. But at United he isn’t receiving the ball from an Andrea Pirlo or somebody.’ After being drenched in champagne when his players invaded his press conference last night, jubilant France manager Deschamps declared: ‘The question being asked is, “Are France a beautiful team?” Well, they are world champions. ‘What should people remember? That we did something better than the others. These players don’t know what it is to be a World Cup winner yet. It won’t sink in for several days. But these 23 players will be linked for ever. From tonight they are going to be different professionally. They’ve won the World Cup and there’s nothing above that.’ France rode their luck — going 2-1 ahead after a VAR referral found Ivan Perisic had handled a ball which passed Blaise Matuidi’s head. There was heavy criticism of the decision, which Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic said was wrong, adding: ‘I never comment on a referee but let me say one thing — in a World Cup final you do not give such a penalty. Maybe we were a bit unlucky. In the first six games we may have been favoured by luck, today not. ‘With respect to VAR, when it goes in your favour it is good, when it doesn’t it is bad. VAR is a good thing for football.’ Man of the match Antoine Griezmann last night celebrated the multi-ethnic nature of the winning team. ‘That’s the France we love,’ he said. ‘That’s it. There are different origins but we are all united. It’s the same in our team. We all play for the same jersey, for the cockerel. As soon as you wear the jersey we try for each other and it’s beautiful.’