FLAIR OF THE POG

But French have added grit to style says Paul

PAUL POGBA says France’s attacking players have the steel to go with the style required to go all the way at Euro 2020.

And the Manchester United star has hailed the “family” unity within the squad.

World Cup holders France opened their tournament with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Germany in Group F which also includes Portugal.

Pogba’s sublime pass to Lucas Hernandez led to the own goal by Mats Hummels, with the Manchester United midfielder’s performance earning him the man of the match award.

France coach Didier Deschamps is blessed with an array of formidable attacking talent, including Pogba, Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Karim Benzema.

But France were forced to dig deep against

Germany and show a grittier side to eke out the win, with Pogba adamant flair players like him can put in the necessary hard graft and defensive duties.

“The attacking power we have, we know the quality and that we can cause problems to any team,” said Pogba.

“But we know as well that attackers have to defend as well, help the team and move and position themselves into spaces where we’re not used to seeing them.

“We did a good job against Germany and this is going to be important in the matches ahead.

We’re used to playing big tournaments. We need to be present and focused in these tournaments. That’s where we have to show and prove our status.

“But we need to stay humble, modest and work hard, think about the team, show team effort and have a great team spirit. We worked well against Germany and produced a great team performance.”

France are favourites to triumph at Euro 2020 and become the first country to win back-toback World Cup and European Championships twice, a feat they achieved in 1998 and 2000.

They certainly have the talent to do so and

Pogba believes their togetherness is one of their biggest strengths.

“It’s not only me,” said Pogba. “It’s the group, the atmosphere within the squad is just fantastic.”

ANTONIO RUDIGER has escaped punishment after appearing to ‘bite’ Pogba’s back during France’s win over Germany.

UEFA looked at the incident and concluded that Rudiger should face no action, leaving him free to play on Saturday in the Group F tie against Portugal.

Pogba had defended the German saying “This was nothing big. It’s all over.”