Paul Pogba Return for Juventus Is Chance to Prove Champions League Credentials

Paul Pogba is already one of football's most coveted young talents. He hasn't had many opportunities to impress on the biggest stage so far in his fledgling career, but that could all change soon. 

The young Frenchman has been recovering from a hamstring problem picked up during the Champions League round-of-16 win over Borussia Dortmund in March.

Reports here in Italy suggest he's now fit, and if he plays against Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final second leg, he has the chance to prove what a lot of people already believe. He can show that he's past being a prospect and is now genuinely one of the best players in the world.

Football's history is peppered with dazzling individual performances that set the greatest players apart, that eschewed the usual confines of a team game and showed us instead that the fantasy we grew up believing in could still exist. 

Pogba is often compared to the great Zinedine Zidane, for obvious reasons. They're both French, and it was at Juventus that Zizou showed himself to be a classy, peerless midfielder with an almost boundless technical ability and a unique knack for controlling games. He then made a world record transfer to Real Madrid—not unlike the kind of move now being discussed for the Bianconeri's current No. 6. 

But for that comparison to be truly warranted, Pogba needs to put on the kind of display that Juve fans know he's capable of—while the world is watching.

There have been several games in Serie A—the 0-3 mauling of Lazio in Rome back in November comes to mind—when the 22-year-old has shown himself capable of winning games almost single-handedly.

If he plays to his best against the current European champions and drives Juventus into an unlikely Champions League final, he'll prove himself worthy of being spoken about in the same hushed tones of players like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. 

Juventus go to Madrid with a slender advantage, but they'll need a minor miracle to escape the Bernabeu with a positive result. Pogba can be that miracle, and if he plays at his best and others like Arturo Vidal and Carlos Tevez can match him, then Max Allegri's side can hope.

The perfect performance from Pogba in Madrid might also end up hurting Juve, because it can only serve to increase speculation about his future and weaken their odds of holding on to arguably football's brightest young star. But then, if he books them a trip to the Olympiastadion in Berlin to face Barcelona or Bayern Munich, the Bianconeri will be more than happy to worry about transfer sagas later.