Paul Pogba: Player Rating and Performance v Sevilla

10:24am on Monday 17th August 2020
By Martin Macdonald

Manchester United crashed out of the Europa League on Sunday after succumbing to a 2-1 loss against Sevilla, with Suso and Luuk de Jong both scoring the goals to send Los Nervionenses through to the final.

Despite being on the losing side, Paul Pogba was the best player on the night.

What was Pogba's overall display like?

📷 Match Snapshot

In a night when there were three goals scored and both goalkeepers, Bono especially, seeing their goals peppered with a flurry of shots, Pogba earned the best FC Rating with a truly dominant display in midfield.

Never lacking in confidence, his swagger was backed up on Sunday with a relentless battling spirit as he constantly won the ball back in midfield, sprayed passes out to the wings, and changed the tempo of the game with a single spin or trick to get out of trouble in the middle of the pitch.

The Frenchman made no less than 12 ball recoveries which was the highest tally of any player in the game, while he also won 100% of his tackles (3/3) and a remarkable 14/19 duels.

That last metric, in particular, displays how difficult it was for the Sevilla midfield to lay a hand on him.

The former Juve star completed 58/65 attempted passes, 25 of which were sent into the final third. Only Bruno Fernandes completed more with 29.

The Sevilla midfield trio of Ever Banega, Fernando, and Joan Jordan played extremely narrow in the game in order to allow Jesus Navas and Sergio Reguilon to bomb up and down the wing.

Sevilla 2-1 Man Utd: Full Player Ratings and Statistics

This meant that things were tight in the middle of midfield for Pogba. On numerous occasions he found himself surrounded, only to superbly dance his way out of trouble with a magnificent display of close control. He effectively, more than once, took out Sevilla's whole midfield with one deft move.

If Man Utd's attackers could finish on the night, we'd all be talking about a fantastic Pogba performance.

He earned a 8.7 FC Rating for his display.

〽️ Rating Week-on-Week

✔️ IMPROVEMENT

In the quarter-final win against Copenhagen, Pogba was solid enough, scoring a 7.6 FC Rating.

The performance against Sevilla represented a significant boost to the aforementioned 8.7 FC Rating.

🗝️ Key Stats

Pogba match stats

Statistic	Value	Notes
FC Rating	8.7	🏆 FC Man of the Match
Mins Played	90
Touches	85	Rank #3
Completed Passes	58	Rank #3
Final Third Passes	25	Rank #2
Duels Won	14	Rank #1
Ball Recoveries	12	Rank #1