Mourinho’s full of praise for Pog as he reaches final
JOSE Mourinho praised Paul Pogba’s ‘maturity’ after he helped France reach the World Cup final against Belgium.
The United midfielder started his fifth game of the finals in a central two with N’Golo Kante as France’s pragmatism overcame Belgian during a tight encounter that finished 1-0 to Les Bleus.
Samuel Umtiti’s second-half header from Antoine Griezmann’s corner settled the tie and the Barcelona defender was named man of the match by Fifa, but Pogba’s performance drew admiration from pundits and onlookers.
He operated from a deeper role and had to mark Old Trafford colleague Marouane Fellaini at times as Belgium dominated possession.
Mourinho was particularly impressed by the control Pogba exerted over the 90 minutes.
“I think a very good performance by Pogba,” Mourinho said during his stint as a TV pundit for the game.
“Pogba was mature, we played with maturity when he had, to hold position and keep control of the play he did.
“France was good at the basic things of the game. They defended well, they were compact. They scored a goal that probably Fellaini is the last man to touch it but they score and they try to control the game which basically they did.”
Mourinho sympathised with his former Chelsea player Eden Hazard but accused certain Belgian players of ‘hiding’ as they struggled to engineer any openings after Umtiti’s 51st-minute header.
“I think the Belgium players go home with a bad feeling,” Mourinho added. “A feeling that we could do more and better, a feeling that probably Hazard was out of it, because he tried absolutely everything.
“Many of the other players, they kept hiding, and a little bit more in the last 20 to 25 minutes. But they are much better than that. And for me, big occasions, big players, and many of the players they were not there in the big occasion.”
Romelu Lukaku spearheaded the Belgium attack but was neutered by Umtiti and defensive partner Raphael Varane.