France coach Didier Deschamps believes a serious hamstring injury to striker Paul Pogba is down to the Juventus midfielder being overused.
Pogba, 22, hurt his right hamstring early in Juve's 3-0 demolition of
Borussia Dortmund, which saw the Serie A title-holders advance to the
Champions League quarter-finals.
The France international is set to miss up to seven weeks, which
would rule him out of competing in both legs of the quarter-finals or
semi-finals in Europe as well as friendlies for France, against Brazil
and Denmark in March.
"What happened is difficult for the player himself," Deschamps said.
"Paul has his first muscular injury, that's something new for him.
"Even when a young player is fit, these kind of things can happen.
"He's playing a lot of games. The seasons are long for him; he doesn't always have a real holiday. His body needed a break."
Uncapped Chelsea centre-back Kurt Zouma was called up by Deschamps,
who said there was no extra burden on defensive duo Raphael Varane and
Mamadou Sakho.
Varane has started just 14 times for Real Madrid this La Liga season,
while Sakho has started in for Liverpool's on just 12 occasions in the
league.
"Raphael has played a lot of games. I am not only reading articles in
newspapers, I am watching all the games. It depends also about his
team," he said.
"For me, Raphael and Mamadou are as good as they were at the World Cup.
"Sakho has been injured and came back. He's now competitive again."
Title : sports - Deschamps: Pogba should have been rested
Description : France coach Didier Deschamps believes a serious hamstring injury to striker Paul Pogba is down to the Juventus midfielder being overused....