Sports weekend report cards: Pogba 4, Kvaratskhelia 10, Todt 8

The announcement on Instagram of the second life in black and white, July 2022, had been greeted by the fans as the return of the prodigal son to Turin; the landing of the private flight, shortly after, seemed like an early Christmas for Juve. Waiting for him in Caselle was the general staff of a lady dressed to the nines, with her make-up not yet disfigured by the 15-point penalty for the ugly mess of capital gains. From there on, for the octopus boiled too much together with potatoes, only absences (meniscus: World Cup faded), wrong choices (conservative therapy instead of the operation) and banana peels are remembered: the laughing post in the Swiss Alps while he was injured, experienced by Juventus fans like a red cloth waved in front of the bull (oops…); the delay in training which cost him the Europa League with Freiburg (on the first leg, on the return leg he wasn’t even called up due to yet another ailment: one month’s prognosis).

Faced with the request to reduce his salary, Pogba would have turned a deaf ear. He invokes Allah (he does not let any soul bear a weight greater than that which can bear) and a speedy recovery to try to end the season with dignity. The doubt that Manchester United has given Juve a package, now a certainty: 34 games missed out of 37, three call-ups in total, a world record in reverse. Shrimp, more than octopus.