Paul Pogba: Juventus midfielder's season could be over after tests show thigh injury

Paul Pogba hid his head under his shirt after he pulled up with a thigh injury in his first competitive start for over a year

Paul Pogba's season could be over after tests confirmed the Juventus midfielder suffered a left thigh injury in the win over Cremonese on Sunday.

The 30-year-old's campaign has been blighted by injury and he was withdrawn in the 24th minute after making his first competitive start in over a year.

Juventus said scans "showed a low-grade lesion of the rectus femoris".

Juve have four games of the season remaining, with their final match at Udinese on 4 June.

That period includes a Europa League semi-final second leg at Sevilla on Thursday, which could lead to the final on 31 May.

The France international covered his face as he left the field after pulling up in the 2-0 win over Cremonese.

It was Pogba's first start since his final game for former side Manchester United against Liverpool in April 2022.

He suffered a calf injury in that game which ruled him out for the remainder of last season.

After rejoining the Serie A club in the summer, Pogba suffered a knee injury in pre-season but initially opted not to get an operation, fearing it would rule him out of the World Cup in Qatar.

But he was later deemed to need surgery anyway and, although he returned to the squad in January, he suffered another muscular problem that delayed his return to action further.

He played the first game of his second spell with Juve on 28 February.

After he was dropped from Juventus' Europa League tie with Freiburg in March for disciplinary reasons, Pogba had another setback when he suffered a right thigh injury while taking free-kicks in training.

He returned to the bench against Sporting Lisbon on 13 April and had made nine substitute appearances in total before being selected for the starting side against Cremonese.