Jose Mourinho has last laugh on reunion with Paul Pogba after Man Utd feud

Jose Mourinho enjoyed his reunion with Paul Pogba on Sunday, as Roma defeated Juventus 1-0 at the Stadio Olimpico to boost their top-four hopes.

Gianluca Mancini’s second-half goal was enough for Roma to beat Juventus, who had Moise Kean sent off during added time. The result leaves Roma fourth in the Serie A table, while Massimiliano Allegri’s side remain in eighth – 12 points behind Mourinho’s men.

Sunday’s game in the Italian capital was Pogba’s first meeting with his former manager Mourinho since the Frenchman was released by Manchester United last summer. Pogba played under Mourinho at Old Trafford… and it was not the easiest of relationships.

Mourinho was appointed by United in the summer of 2016. The Portuguese coach re-signed Pogba for a world-record transfer fee of £89million during his first transfer window in charge, as the midfielder was one of the most exciting footballers in Europe at the time.

Pogba, now 29, came through the ranks at Old Trafford before joining Juventus in the summer of 2012. He went on to win the Golden Boy prize in 2013 and the Young Player Award at the World Cup in Brazil 12 months later, as well as four consecutive Serie A titles.

Pogba’s second spell at United started well. Mourinho’s side won the Carabao Cup and Europa League during the 2016/17 campaign, which suggested they were heading in the right direction. Their relationship soon soured, though, as United struggled for form.

Mourinho and Pogba were filmed having a tense training ground discussion in September 2018, as the player was stripped of the vice-captaincy. Pogba was also dropped for a handful of big games before Mourinho was sacked in December 2018.

Then, in April 2021, Pogba criticised Mourinho during an interview with Sky Sports. He said, “What I have now with Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer, Mourinho’s successor] is different, he wouldn’t go against the players. He wouldn’t go against the players.

“Maybe Ole wouldn’t pick them, but it’s not like he puts them on the side like they don’t exist anymore. That’s the difference between Mourinho and Ole.

“Once I had a great relationship with Mourinho, everybody saw that, and the next day you don’t know what happened. That’s the strange thing I had with Mourinho and I cannot explain to you because even I don’t know. So, yeah.”

The timing of that interview was interesting, as Mourinho was sacked by Tottenham just two days after it was released. Yet 15 months later, both Solskjaer and Pogba had left Old Trafford. Mourinho, meanwhile, was a champion again after winning the inaugural Europa Conference League with Roma last May.

Pogba re-joined Juventus last summer but has missed most of this season with a knee injury. The World Cup winner has since returned to fitness and came off the bench against Roma, but he couldn’t stop Mourinho from winning this battle.