Paul Pogba says he agrees with NBA player Giannis Antetokounmpo: ‘There are no failures, only steps towards success’. The Frenchman gave a lengthy interview to Views.fr where he talked about his career to date, the changes to the game during his time playing football, and why quitting is never an option, even when you fail:
Five years ago, France won the World Cup. In your documentary “The Pogmentary”, there’s an extract where you give a speech at half-time of the final and say “I want us to win because I want us to be remembered by the French, their children and grandchildren”. And that’s what happened. How did you cope mentally after the World Cup, with all the extra attention?
“It’s weird actually, because we play to win. When we set out to play this World Cup, it was to win it. Yes, of course, we became world champions, and that’s something extraordinary. But then, I don’t know, sometimes you forget. I mean, personally, sometimes I forgot that I was world champion. And in fact, it was when I saw how people saw me, how they said “Congratulations”, “Thanks again for the World Cup”, that I realized. We’d done something crazy and made a real impact on the French. But after that, I’m still me and I still have plenty of other goals. But I want to go on winning more trophies. Whether it’s with my club team or the national team. In fact, we just want to move forward and keep going like this. You really want to keep going. I’ve got plenty of other goals, whether with the team or in my personal life. So I’m going to work hard to make those dreams and goals come true.”
After the euphoria of the World Cup, there was the disappointment of France’s surprise elimination in the last 16 of Euro 2020. How did you cope mentally with going from such a moment of intense joy to such disappointment?
“We tell ourselves in our heads that we can’t always win. We see our mistakes. We were expected to win, we were the Euro favourites. It’s always a bit harder to be favourites because there are always greater expectations of the players and the team in general. So there’s a bit more pressure. We lost that match on penalties to Switzerland, a team that played really well. It was 50-50. After that, you carry on and work. You learn from your mistakes, you gain experience and you grow.”
Do you agree with [NBA player] Giannis Antetokounmpo that there are no failures, only steps towards success?
“Exactly. He spoke for all the athletes. In fact, there’s no disappointment, there’s no defeat. Every day you learn. The question [asked of Giannis] by the journalist is a really stupid question. Why is it a stupid question? Because what does it mean: you lose, you quit? No, you lose, you grow, you start again until you win, and that’s the mental strength of players, the mental strength of athletes. Because that’s very important above all else. Before talent and all that goes with it, tactics, technique. It’s really mental strength. He summed up very well the athlete or top-level sportsman who just has to keep working and learns from his mistakes, who doesn’t win all the time, but always gains experience. Who never loses despite defeat.”
