Pogba is injured again
At the Carlo Castellani field on September 3, three minutes after replacing Fabio Miretti in the 62nd minute, Pogba caught the volley to the corner near the home net. However, the linesman raised his flag to signal that Dusan Vlahovic was offside when he made a wall with Pogba's chest. Semi-automatic offside detection technology confirmed this decision was correct.
Pogba appeared to be tense in a fiercely contested situation and moved quite cautiously in the last minutes. After the game, while the Juventus players celebrated and thanked the fans, the French midfielder spoke harshly to the doctor and touched the back of his thigh before going straight into the dressing room. Coach Max Allegri said the student felt pain in the back and needed tests to determine the problem.
According to Football Italy, despite having to have surgery for a knee injury, the main problem hindering Pogba's career in the past two years is his tendency to have muscle problems. "It's a vicious cycle, because the less Pogba trains and plays regularly, the more likely he is to have muscle problems," Football Italy commented.
Returning to Juventus with many expectations as a free agent in the summer of 2022, Pogba actually experienced the worst season since the beginning of his career. The 30-year-old midfielder injured his right knee meniscus in pre-season, had surgery, missed the 2022 World Cup and only returned in February 2023. After several appearances from the bench, he injured a muscle again during a training session and was sidelined for a month. In May, Pogba ended the season early due to a hamstring problem. In total, he only had one assist in 10 games in all competitions, with 161 minutes on the pitch.
Yesterday, Juventus dominated, controlling the ball 51%, finishing 18 times with five shots on target, while Empoli only had seven shots off target. In the 10th minute, Danilo headed into the home goal from close range, but the goal was not recognized because the Brazilian defender had committed a foul earlier. Danilo didn't have to regret too long when he scored a goal from a messy ball in the penalty area, opening the score in the 24th minute.
In the 37th minute, the away team received a penalty when Vlahovic was tripped by Youssef Maleh in the penalty area. On the 11m mark, the Serbian striker shot low to the left corner. Goalkeeper Etrit Berisha guessed the right direction and took two beats to catch the ball.
Juventus fixed the score in the 82nd minute. Receiving Arkadiusz Milik's pass, Federico Chiesa accelerated from home, passed goalkeeper Berisha and finished into an empty goal.
With these results, Inter and Milan lead with nine absolute points, Juventus ranks third with seven points and Napoli ranks sixth with six points. In the next round, Juventus meets Lazio, Inter plays Milan and Napoli is a guest of Genoa.
