When Paul Pogba saw that he could neither reach Ilkay Gündogan nor the ball in time, he had a brainstorm.
He slid towards them with his knees bent.
37 minutes of the European Championship had been played in Munich when the ball flew towards Gündogan in the penalty area of the French, who are also planning to win the title in this tournament.
The German ball artist, who scored 17 goals for Manchester City this season, swung his right leg from eleven meters.
But then he hesitated.
Christopher Meltzer
Sports correspondent in Munich.
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It was only a tiny moment, but not tiny enough not to alter the movement of the shot.
The ball bounced at least three feet past the post.
And when Gündogan was still angry, Pogba stood up next to him as if nothing had happened.
A feat with the outer instep
It was only through slow motion to understand what Pogba had to do with the hesitation.
His brainwave had struck.
He didn't want to catch the ball with his slide, but rather irritate Gündogan.
You could see that in the bent legs.
And so Pogba demonstrated a skill that only the most ingenious in football can master: he changed the game without touching the ball or opponent.
Late on Tuesday evening, when Pogba faced reporters' questions in the arena with the small “Man of the Match” trophy in hand, it wasn't about the slide.
He was just one of many tricks the midfielder had performed in the first round match.
His best was a pass from the right to the left in the 20th minute, with which he outwitted the German defense and initiated the decisive 1-0.
This led the reporters from the French newspaper Le Monde to come up with a nice description for his appearance: “Le danseur étoile des Bleus”.
The starting dancer of the blues.
He danced the waltz and breakdance at the same time
Something magical happens when Pogba, 28 years old, puts on the national team jersey. He then does what few can do in world football: he combines violence with skill. He can push and trick opponents. He can conquer balls in the smallest of gaps and pass through the smallest of gaps. You could see that again in Munich. He danced the waltz and breakdance at the same time.
But it is part of the truth that you have to highlight your achievements in the national team because they are rarely seen in the club. In Manchester, where he has played for United for almost five years, he has collected six goals and nine assists in 42 games this season. If you take his talent and his transfer fee (105 million euros, a world record at the time) as a yardstick, that's not much. Former United coach José Mourinho even called it a "virus". And even if Mourinho is long gone, he could be part of the explanation for the difference in performance: In France Pogba has a coach who trusts him.
When Pogba talks about Didier Deschamps, he raves.
“He always stood by me, but still didn't spare me.
He was always direct and honest with me, ”he said in May.
“He helped me to be a leader on this team.
He gave me the confidence. "
Above all, however, Deschamps has chosen a system in which Pogba has a lot of freedom.
He plays alongside N'Golo Kanté and Adrien Rabiot.
A French triumvirate in which Pogba has a special role: he is supposed to create goals.
"I'm trying to repay the trust," Pogba said in May.
He's already done it: In the World Cup final three years ago, he scored the decisive 3-1 against Croatia.
At the end of the evening in Munich, a French reporter documented, Paul Pogba was standing in front of the fan curve where his compatriots were celebrating and yelling: “That's not it yet.” And if you briefly remembered how he had been before had played there was no reason to doubt it.