The Paul Pogba that the world, and Manchester United fans, have been waiting for quite some time to see again showed up for France during the international FIFA break.
Pogba's second spell at Manchester United hasn't gone as well as he or the club had hoped. When he was the most expensive transfer in history from Juventus in the summer of 2016, it was a homecoming for the France international, and he was pegged as the midfield maestro to lead the Red Devils back to European glory. But it's been an up-and-down tenure, especially this season, with the team out of the race to win the Premier League and knocked out of the Champions League by Sevilla.
Maybe United just needs to get more French players around him, because he's killing it for Les Bleus. On Tuesday, Pogba scored a brilliant goal and recorded an assist in a 3-1 win over Russia. Pogba hadn't grabbed a goal and an assist in a game for United since November 18 of last year -- the last time he actually scored a goal.
He set up Kylian Mbappe for the first one in the first half with a brilliant through ball:
And then Pogba made it 2-0 with an equisite free kick goal:
Now, his United struggles are more than just having better players around him. The team has loads of talent, but Pogba has had trouble fitting into Jose Mourinho's system and the pace of English football compared to that of Italy, where he thrived at Juventus. He's still got plenty of time to find his way in England, but sometimes, no matter what, a certain player just isn't a good fit at a club (see Barcelona and Zlatan Ibrahimovic).
But Tuesday's performance is a good sign for United. It's a showing that should give Pogba confidence, and give United fans confidence that Pogba can do similar things at Old Trafford.
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