“Finally, the nightmare is over (…) This period has been extremely trying for me, because everything I have worked so hard for has been put on hold,” Paul Pogba reacted in a press release on Friday. following the CAS decision.
“I have always maintained that I have never knowingly violated the regulations of WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency, editor’s note) when I took a nutritional supplement which had been prescribed to me by a doctor, and which does not affect nor improve the performance of male athletes,” he added, saying he had always played with “integrity.”
Friday evening, Paul Pogba published on his Instagram account a close-up photo of two feet wearing football boots signed “Pogba” with socks with his initials decorated with the flag of France and the two world champion stars.
Tested positive for testosterone in August 2023 during a match between Juventus and Udinese in which he did not participate and provisionally suspended the following month, Paul Pogba was suspended for four years on February 29 by the Italian anti-doping court.
“I am sad, shocked and heartbroken that everything I have built during my professional playing career has been taken away from me,” he added. “When I am freed from legal restrictions, the whole story will become clear, but I have never knowingly or deliberately taken any supplements that would violate anti-doping regulations.”
To explain this positive doping test, those around him had put forward the theory of accidental contamination via a food supplement prescribed by a doctor consulted in the United States.
Testosterone, the hormone of fertility and male sexuality, promotes muscle development.
– “Combat” –
The positive test in August 2023 had the effect of a hammer blow on a player who had been going through a very complicated period for several months, punctuated by injuries and extra-sporting matters. The four-year suspension sounded a few months later like an early end to his career.
“I do not imagine for a single moment that Paul had the intention, the desire to take drugs,” commented the Blues coach, Didier Deschamps. “Paul will have to lead a new fight to defend himself, before the Court of Arbitration for Sport and convince the judges that he did not knowingly take prohibited products,” he continued, saying he was unable to “remain insensitive to his pain, taking into account everything he has achieved in the selection and the relationships we have established in the France team.
In Italy, Massimiliano Allegri, then coach of Juve, judged that football was losing “an extraordinary player” with him, while Adrien Rabiot, his teammate in the national team and at club – he now plays in Marseille -, had deemed the sanction “disproportionate”.
Great architect of the world title won by the Blues in Russia in 2018, star of world football, “La Pioche” had seen his popularity decline over a litany of misfortunes on and off the stadiums.
During the 2022-23 season, he only made ten appearances in the Juve jersey, due in particular to an injury to the meniscus in his right knee and, with sadness in his soul, had to accept an operation on depriving the World Cup in Qatar, where the France team failed in the final against Argentina in December 2022.
The player was also the victim of a resounding case of organized extortion, for which six men, including his brother Mathias, were referred to the Paris Criminal Court in September.
The CAS decision gives him a possible sporting future again at the end of a week which began with the surprise decision of Antoine Griezmann, his friend from the Russian epic, to give up the French team.
