Manchester United rolled over St Etienne in the Europa League Round of 32 first leg on Thursday evening, and one of the notable features of the game was the fact that Paul Pogba was playing against his brother Florentin, with their mother watching on in the crowd. The two Pogbas were enjoying each other's company in the tunnel before the game, laughing together and performing a secret handshake, and at half-time they were joking together walking down the tunnel.
We predicted that Roy Keane wouldn't be a fan of this, and we were right. Keano was calling the shots for ITV on their highlights show on Thursday night and his dry, cutting wit was fairly evident throughout his comments on Pogba. But notably he didn't completely stick the boot into the Frenchman completely, remarking (in, dare we say it, slightly Fergie-esque language) that "the boy Pogba, he seems like a bit of a free spirit".
Keano starts talking about the brothers' behaviour from about 1:10 in the video below.
Presenter: To be chatting behind their hands with each other (at half-time), did this bother you?
Keane: Yeah. It does! But the boy Pogba, he seems like a bit of a free spirit, a bit of a character. I think it was a little bit over the top tonight, before the game, at half time. They've spoke to each other more tonight than I think I've spoken to any of my brothers in the last five years!
So all a bit strange, and they're probably chatting as we speak after the game!
I think when the game started, they were focussed on the game. All this stuff before and after the game, a lot of nonsense, but that's the modern player, I'm afraid.
Here's a video of Pogba and his brother before the match on Thursday, followed by a (completely random) video of how Roy Keane may prefer Pogba to conduct himself with opponents before a game in future.
