Paul Pogba says he is still hurting from France’s Euro 2016 defeat

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Paul Pogba may have won the World Cup in 2018 but he says he is still hurting from France’s Euro 2016 final loss.

Speaking ahead of France’s Euro 2020 group stage opener on Tuesday, Pogba says he is highly motivating to win the tournament.

France were hosts in 2016 and reached the final before losing to Portugal 1-0. It was a heartbreaking loss.

Pogba said that despite the World Cup win two years later, he has been unable to forget it.

Quoted by Sport.fr, Pogba said: “It hasn’t changed [the feeling]. Another team came to take this cup from us. That of course stays. We won the World Cup, frankly it was bad for good.”

Fresh challenge ahead

Pogba is even more determined France win this year’s tournament and knows it is first place or nothing, such is the high standard set by his team.

He said: “Now we didn’t come here to participate in Euro (2020) and just be a great team that participated. We want, we want to win that, we want to go for the victory, we have to be motivated. We must want more than the others.”

France have a really tough group which kicks off when they play Germany in Munich on Tuesday.

The other group game sees Hungary host Portugal, the team which beat France in the 2016 final.

Pogba knows it will be tight and he wants France to at the top of their game mentally and avoid complacency. Three teams can qualify from the group which increases the margin for error.

The midfielder is also hurting from a final defeat with Manchester United. This will have brought back painful memories for Pogba.

The tournament gives him, and other United players, a fresh chance at glory just a few weeks on.

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