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Video: Ex-Man United star Paul Pogba breaks down in tears as he makes emotional return to football

Video: Ex-Man United star Paul Pogba breaks down in tears as he makes emotional return to football

Yahoo13 hours ago

Video: Ex-Man United star Paul Pogba breaks down in tears as he makes emotional return to football
Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba was moved to tears as he completed his return to football with a move to AS Monaco.
Monaco have confirmed that Pogba has joined their ranks, putting pen to paper on a two-year deal.
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A club statement read, 'AS Monaco are delighted to announce the arrival of Paul Pogba. The French World Champion has signed a 2-season deal, and is now tied to the Principality until 30 June 2027.'
This marks the end of Pogba's seven-month spell without a club, having been a free agent since mutually terminating his Juventus contract last November.
In September 2023, Pogba was handed a four-year ban after testing positive for a banned substance, but that suspension was reduced to just 18 months last October after the player launched a successful appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The Frenchman was able to resume training in January and returned to playing in March, although he had left Juventus shortly beforehand.
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Pogba was on the radar of numerous clubs in Europe, as well as in MLS and the Saudi Pro League, but in the past few weeks, Monaco became the clear frontrunners for his signature.
Now that the move has gone through, Pogba will aim to get his club career back on track at Monaco and stake a claim for a France recall before the 2026 World Cup.
Seemingly aware of the momentous nature of the moment after a difficult past few months, an emotional Pogba was reduced to tears as he signed his contract with Monaco.
In the video, Pogba can be heard thanking the Ligue 1 club for giving him the chance to get back into the game.
Pogba could make his Monaco debut on August 17, when they kick off their Ligue 1 season against his former club, Le Havre.
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The 32-year-old is also set for a return to Champions League football next season, thanks to Monaco's third-place finish. The World Cup winner last featured in the competition for United back in March 2022.
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Maresca, the ‘joke' Club World Cup weather delays and an ominous warning for World Cup 2026
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  • New York Times

Maresca, the ‘joke' Club World Cup weather delays and an ominous warning for World Cup 2026

It had been a long day, much much longer than Enzo Maresca had wanted. Play was suspended for nearly two hours waiting for the weather to pass over Charlotte, but the storm whipped up by the Chelsea coach's post-match comments threatens to rumble on much longer. 'It's a joke,' he said after Chelsea's Club World Cup knock-out clash with Benfica was held up for 113 minutes, the sixth storm-enforced delay of the tournament and the third hour-plus interruption. And he kept using that word — a joke — while making clear he did not see the funny side, despite seeing his team run out 4-1 winners after extra time in a match that kicked off at 4pm local time and did not conclude until 8.38pm. Advertisement 'For me, it's not football,' he said in his post-match news conference. 'It's already seven, eight, nine (in fact six) games that they suspended. I can understand that for security (safety) reasons you are to suspend the game. But if you suspend seven, eight games, that means that probably is not the right place to do this competition.' Maresca was asked whether, by 'not the right place', he meant Charlotte specifically or the U.S. more widely. 'No, no, no,' he said, initially appearing to backtrack before standing his ground. 'I'm saying that (…) if in this competition they already suspended six, seven, eight games, probably there is something that is not working well. Because in football, it's not normal to suspend a game.' You will not, at the time of writing, find any of those quotes on FIFA's or Chelsea's website or social media channels. It would be an understatement to say it was at odds with the happy, clappy messaging that is preferred in Gianni Infantino's Club World Cup. The tournament's official social media feed did not even mention the hold-up in its live updates. Maresca went on, repeating the same point, explaining his frustration that the two teams were left in the dressing room waiting for an update — 'people eating, people laughing, people talking on the mobile' — and the way it affected the game. Chelsea led 1-0 when play was suspended in the 86th minute. Upon the restart nearly two hours later, the dynamics of the game had changed dramatically, with Benfica forcing an equaliser that took the tie into extra time. A game that began at 4pm local time did not finish until 8.38pm. 'Guys, please don't understand me,' Maresca said. 'I said it's a fantastic competition. It's the Club World Cup, it's top, we are happy to be in the last eight, happy to win, all these kind of things. But something happens, six, seven games suspended…It's not normal to suspend a game. In a World Cup, how many games are suspended? Zero, probably. In Europe, how many games? Zero.' Advertisement In fact, a knock-out game at last summer's European Championship finals, between Denmark and hosts Germany, was interrupted for 24 minutes due to a storm. There was a longer delay, 58 minutes, at a match between Ukraine and France in Donetsk at Euro 2012. But Maresca is right to point out how extreme the Club World Cup experience in the U.S. is proving; Saturday's 113-minute hold-up is not even the longest of the tournament, a record held by Benfica's victory over Auckland City in Orlando last Friday (134 minutes). Storms and stifling heat are accepted as facts of life in an American summer, as is the potential impact on big sports events. But of the 'big four' sports leagues, only the MLB stages matches outside at the height of summer — and that is baseball, which is stop-start by nature and where several of the stadiums built in recent years have a retractable roof. There have been cases of storms interrupting football matches played in the U.S, including Major League Soccer games and the Copa America semi-final in Chicago in 2016. What has happened at this Club World Cup, with six games held up, has felt extreme, raising questions not just about the selection of host cities but about the protocol that demands play is suspended for at least 30 minutes beyond the last lightning strike recorded within a 10-mile radius. Because it is the Club World Cup — because it has not captured anything like as much interest has FIFA would have you believe — the interruptions have been relatively easy to shrug off. But it is becoming more of an issue as thoughts turn to next summer's World Cup, to be played across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Remember the sense of alarm about weather conditions when FIFA's executive committee voted to hold the 2022 World Cup in the desert heat of Qatar? The tournament was eventually switched to winter. 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Chelsea had been coasting to a 1-0 win, thanks to a smartly taken free kick from captain Reece James, when referee Slavko Vincic ordered the players to leave the pitch and head to the safety of the dressing rooms due to what FIFA called 'severe weather in the area'. Spectators were told to seek cover, with the stands emptying and many fans sheltering in the concourse awaiting further updates. There was no further communication until moments before the players trudged out to warm up again nearly two hours later. Both clubs posted photographs from inside the dressing room; Chelsea's included Marc Cucurella, Moises Caicedo and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall on exercise bikes and Robert Sanchez doing keep-ups with his fellow goalkeepers. 'It was,' James told reporters with a sense of understatement, 'quite disruptive'. 🚲⏳ — Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) June 28, 2025 Maresca said it was worse than that. 'Two hours inside,' he said. 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