Man Utd star Pogba names surprising ex-Liverpool man as toughest foe
Man Utd star Paul Pogba has named former Liverpool midfielder Emre Can as one of his toughest ever opponents.
Following spells at Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen, Liverpool signed Can in 2014 for around £9.75m.
The German played over 150 times for the English side over four seasons.
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His last act in a Liverpool shirt came in the 2018 Champions League final. He came on off the bench as they were beaten 3-1 by Real Madrid.
Can has gone onto have spells at Juventus and Borussia Dortmund. He has also been capped 37 times for Germany since 2015.
During a Q&A, Pogba has been asked who his toughest opponents have been so far. As well as Can, he took time to praise his France teammate N’Golo Kante:
“Emre Can, yeah,” Pogba answered when questioned by JOE.
“Obviously, N’Golo [Kanté] and everything, but one day I remember I had a big battle with Emre Can.
“But with Kante, you pass him and you think there’s another N’Golo because he comes back so fast.”
Elsewhere, Gary Neville has explained the key trait that’s brought success to Liverpool and Manchester City that Man Utd have lacked in recent years.
“The two teams at the top, their managers have got complete control in their clubs. Faith, trust, belief all the way through.
“Pep can leave Sterling out in the derby no one bats an eyelid, brings Grealish in, no one thought it would happen but gets on with it because he’s got complete control, no one questions him.
“Manchester United haven’t got that and they haven’t had it for a number of years. The worst thing about a player being left out and not being happy about it, what I always used to think was, is that it’s disrespectful to the players who were left out in the previous week.
“You might be playing a lot and then you’ve been left out but what about the players who are on the bench for the last four weeks, that’s disrespectful and I don’t like it.”
