France coach: I cannot imagine that Pogba deliberately took steroids

French national football team coach Didier Deschamps ruled out the possibility that Italian Roosters and Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba deliberately took steroids, according to what he said yesterday after the friendly defeat on German soil 1-2. The coach said about the player, who played 91 international matches under his leadership, in which he scored 11 goals: “I am very surprised. I do not have the data. Things will continue, but a lot of things are piling up on him (Pogba), and this is difficult.”

On Monday, the Italian Anti-Doping Agency decided to temporarily suspend Pogba after he was found to be taking the banned testosterone hormone, which constitutes a very severe blow to his dream of returning to his previous level after he suffered greatly as a result of injuries. According to the Italian press, Pogba, who missed most of the 2022-2023 season and only played 10 matches due to injuries, failed the doping test that he underwent after the match between Juventus and its host Udinese in the first stage of the league, in which he did not participate.

Italian news agency ANSA reported on Monday afternoon that Pogba showed elevated levels of testosterone in a blood test he took after beating Udinese 3-0 on August 20. Although he remained on the bench and did not participate in the match, Pogba was one of those randomly selected to undergo the test. In this case, the player can request a counter analysis to ensure that there are no errors in the sample.

Within the next seven days, Sample B will be analyzed by the same laboratory that examined Sample A. If the result is positive, the player will be automatically suspended pending the referee. The 30-year-old faces the risk of being suspended for up to four years, according to Italian media, if it is found that he took performance-enhancing drugs.

When asked whether he believed that Pogba intentionally took steroids, Deschamps replied on Tuesday, “I cannot imagine that. Based on my knowledge of him, and everything related to what is going on in his head… but the substance (steroids) is present, unless there is a second opinion.” After the antibody examination).