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sportsclassic · 11 years ago

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Lassana Diarra

Lassana Diarra (born 10 March 1985), or simply Lass, is a French footballer of Malian descent, who plays for Lokomotiv Moscow.[3] His predominant position is defensive midfielder but he can also play in a more advanced role and has played at right back, which he occasionally did for former club Chelsea, as well as France.

Early career

Lass was turned down by football clubs as a youngster. FC Nantes deemed him too "small and lightweight" to succeed[4] at 170 cm and 58 kg (5'7" and 9 stone). Lass admitted he thought his "football career was over".[4] His next stop was Le Mans UC, where Diarra claimed they "didn't seem to care" about him Lass's footballing career finally began at Le Havre, a former French top-flight football team. Outstanding in his defensive midfield role, his reputation started to grow and impressive performances saw his selection to the French U-21 squad. Along with the reputation came interest from other clubs, and Chelsea became potential suitors. With Chelsea's Claude Makélélé not getting any younger, Chelsea's wide network of scouts tagged Diarra as the "new Makélélé" and the club promptly paid £1 million for his services in July 2005.[5]

Chelsea

Lass was in Chelsea's first team squad in the 2005–06 season, but did not get much first team football. His Chelsea debut came in the UEFA Champions League in October 2005, when he was given a brief run out as a substitute when Chelsea were 4–0 up against Real Betis. However, he was not expecting to come straight into the side. Learning from Makélélé, a master of his position, Lass improved throughout the season, showing impressively when playing for the reserve team. He played well against Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup third round, winning rave reviews from both managers, teammates, and media sources. He became a bit part player in Chelsea's first team and also completed the full 90 minutes in Chelsea's last two games of the season at Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United, as manager José Mourinho rotated his squad.

Diarra was named Chelsea's young player of the season for 2005–06. Due to Chelsea's defensive injury setbacks during the 2006–07 season, he was often asked to play at right back. He played full Premiership games against Blackburn Rovers, Charlton Athletic, and Middlesbrough, with some success, and also started in Chelsea's win over Arsenal in the League Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium. On 29 July, reports surfaced suggesting he could be on his way to Arsenal in pursuit of first-team football.[6] His contract with Chelsea was due to expire in January 2008, and having made no move to extend it, Chelsea sold him to Arsenal on 31 August 2007, before he could leave on a free transfer.[7]

Arsenal

On 31 August 2007, transfer deadline day, Lass signed for Arsenal for an undisclosed fee.[8] He was given the number 8 shirt, vacated by the departure of winger Freddie Ljungberg. On his move across London, he cited Gunners manager Arsène Wenger as one of the main reasons for joining the club, along with the style of football played by Arsenal. Wenger had called the young Frenchman a "multi-functional player", and a good addition to the squad.[9] Diarra made his Arsenal debut as a late substitute in the home leg of the 2007–08 Champions League group stage match against Sevilla, and his full debut against Newcastle United in the third round of the League Cup. Lass started his first Premier League match for Arsenal against Aston Villa. With the emergence of defensive midfielder Mathieu Flamini in the Arsenal side, Diarra saw only limited action in the early months of the season. Having expressed concerns that he was not playing enough first team football,[10] Diarra signed for Portsmouth in January 2008 after only 5 months at Arsenal for an undisclosed fee believed to be around £5.5 million.[11]

Portsmouth

Diarra signed for Portsmouth on 17 January 2008.[12][13] He was given his first start against Derby County,[14] contributing to a 3–1 win at Fratton Park. He scored his first goal for the club in the following match, against FA Cup Fourth Round Championship opponents Plymouth Argyle,[15] and his first Premier League goal two weeks later, a controversial late winner against Bolton Wanderers.[16] Diarra went on to play in every minute of Portsmouth's remaining FA Cup matches en route to claiming the trophy in the final.[17][18][19][20] He topped the season by being included in the France squad for Euro 2008; this and the FA Cup win arguably vindicated his decision to part company with Arsenal, Diarra himself saying that it had "more than justified my decision."[21] He played in the 2008 Community Shield against Manchester United, missing in the penalty shoot out which was won by United. On 18 September 2008 he scored Pompey's first ever goal in a major European competition against Vitória Guimarães,[22] his third and final goal for the club. The first red card of Diarra's Premier League career came on 28 September 2008 when he was booked twice against Tottenham Hotspur at Fratton Park.

Real Madrid

On 17 December 2008, Portsmouth agreed a fee with Real Madrid for Diarra to join them on 1 January 2009 for a fee of around €20 million (£18.88 million), subject to a medical.[23][23] and €20 million transfer was agreed five days later.[24] He was assigned the number 6 shirt of Mahamadou Diarra for domestic competitions as the Malian midfielder was out with a season-ending injury and the vacant number 39 for the Champions League. He wore the name Lass on the back of his shirt to avoid confusion with Mahamadou. His transfer was officially completed on 1 January 2009, the opening of the transfer window. Madrid had planned to add both Diarra and fellow new signing Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to their 2008–09 Champions League squad, but both players had already featured in the same season's UEFA Cup for previous clubs Portsmouth and Ajax, respectively. UEFA rules would allow only one of the pair to be registered[25][26] by 1 February 2009 and eventually Diarra was selected to play in the competition.[27]

Lass's performance for Real Madrid in his first few months earned him a spot among the starting eleven on UEFA's 2008–09 La Liga Breakthrough Team. The Madridista joined Sevilla's Diego Perotti as the only foreigner on the list. According to the UEFA website, Lass "joined Real Madrid in the winter transfer window with a very low profile, although in a few short months he managed to convince the demanding Madridista fan base."For the 2009–10 season Lass was assigned the number 10 shirt after Wesley Sneijder moved to Internazionale and Mahamadou Diarra came back from injury and reclaimed the number 6 shirt. Lass scored his first official goal for Madrid in the 2009–10 La Liga season opener against Deportivo de La Coruña, providing his side with their winning goal in a 3–2 victory. In August 2010, it was reported that Lass Diarra has been transfer listed by Real.[28] However, José Mourinho included Lass Diarra in his starting lineup for the first game of the 2010/11 season.[29] Because Madrid bought Sami Khedira, Diarra faced further competition to get into the squad. However, Mourinho stated Lass will not be leaving and said that he saw Lass as a starting player.[30].[4]

#UEFA Champions League #Millennium Stadium #Lassana Diarra #FC Nantes #Claude Makélélé #Chelsea F.C.#Chelsea #Arsenal

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julienpoulidor · 29 years ago

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Claude Makélélé. Sport. Soccer. FC Nantes. France/Zaire.

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prettywigga · 4 years ago

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Claude Makélélé

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thefinishedarticle · 4 years ago

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The Ultimate José

This is one hypothetical question which I keep seeing asked: if you had to assemble a starting XI out of all of the players José Mourinho has managed, who would you choose?

I have copied the discussion-prompting efforts of betting companies William Hill and 888 below, which agree on every member of the team apart from the holding midfielder: William Hill chose Michael Essien, whilst 888 opt for Claude Makélélé. But all of the papers have had their attempts as well, with a fair amount of variation in their results, so I thought I’d have a more thorough look to see just how reasonable their choices are.

Interestingly, it’s a question which has already been answered by Mourinho himself. He refused to do so in 2017, stating that to do so would be a disservice to the players who weren’t included. "It’s an answer that I’ve always refused to give and will continue to," he said then. "So many players gave their blood and soul when they played for me, how can I name some and forget others?”

However, this year he bit the bullet and listed a team as follows: Cech, Gallas, Carvalho, Terry, Zanetti, Makélélé, Lampard, Ozil, Ronaldo, Hazard, Drogba. There are a few differences to the teams suggested above, but then Mourinho is not necessary the objective expert here, especially as he had high-profile fallings-out with many of the talents under his management.

So which is correct?

Defence and Goalkeeper

Firstly, we should clarify whether we're choosing ‘the best players to have played under Mourinho’ over their career, or best players whilst playing for Mourinho. I assume the latter, In that case, Ricardo Carvalho is the first name on the team sheet. The pair won five league titles in seven seasons together, across three different clubs in three different leagues, and picked up five domestic cups and two European titles in the same period.

Carvalho was a major part of Mourinho’s early success with Porto, winning two Portuguese league titles, a domestic cup, the UEFA Cup and the Champions League in 2003 and 2004, with enough of a starring role to be named in the Portuguese team of the season and the UEFA team of the season in respective years. He is the only member of that successful Porto squad with that level of recognition (Paulo Ferreira made the UEFA team in 2003, Maniche made it in 2004, and Deco made the Portuguese team in 2004).

Both Carvalho and Ferreira followed Mourinho to Chelsea, where they continued with their third and fourth successive league titles and three domestic cups in three years from 2004 to 2007. Maniche arrived in the 2004/05 season to share in that title, but he was only a squad player whereas the two defenders slotted straight into the first team. Mourinho then left for Inter Milan, but when he was signed by Real Madrid he brought Carvalho back from Chelsea: his compatriot was again a starring defender as they won the domestic cup in the first season, and remained a starter in their following league winning campaign before injury forced his demotion to the bench, and became a squad player for Mourinho’s acrimonious final year at the club.

Sergio Ramos was there for the full three years, sharing in those cup and league victories as well as twice appearing in the UEFA team of the year, but surely he can’t compete with Carvalho’s level of consistent loyalty and success. I think that John Terry also beats him to the other centre-back spot, because he was a fixture in both that original period of Chelsea success and Mourinho’s victorious return in 2013. The pair won three Premier Leagues titles and four domestic cups in five full seasons together, and Terry appeared in the Premier League team of the year for all three league wins (as well as in the UEFA team twice) to demonstrate his starring role in their success. He and Carvalho can renew their successful partnership. Pepe, Ivanoic, Cahill, Samuel, and others did well, but don’t quite clear this extremely high bar.

I am going to disagree with the examples above again when it comes to the left-back pick. Ashley Cole only really played one full season under Mourinho, having been signed post-title success, and was never part of one of his league-winning sides. William Gallas was his predecessor who starred in that dominant Chelsea team and won back-to-back titles, appearing in the Premier League Team of the Year for the latter. Most would say that Cole was the better player for Chelsea, or across his career, but that’s not what we’re looking for here - a point which will also apply to many Chelsea legends which began under Mourinho but only grew once he’d moved on.

The right flank is probably even more contentious. As noted above, Ferreira was an ever-present for five consecutive seasons and four consecutive league titles. Or you could play Maicon, Mourinho’s main man in Milan and a legend of the position. Both won titles and appeared in the UEFA team once under him. The choice of Zanetti is actually a really strange one: he made the most appearances of any player in those two years at Inter, but he starred on the right side of a three-man midfield rather than in his other role at right-back.

If we’re just shunting players into that position, Sergio Ramos played at right-back under Mourinho's first season in Madrid, only shifting to the middle once Carvalho had left a centre-back berth empty (and appeared in the UEFA team for both). I’m minded to give him that role, allowing him to play alongside Carvalho and Terry, with Carvalho providing the bridge between the two partnerships, but it’s a tough position to decide and I think it would be fairer to go for an out-and-out right back in Ferreira, given he spent five years doing great work in that actual position. The left has fewer claimants, but Marcelo was a real star at Real (with his own UEFA team appearance) and probably edges Gallas when comparing their short time of two seasons each.

Circling back to goal, Cech’s position is also under pressure. Iker Casillas was more often in the UEFA team (twice to once), and De Gea was more often in the Premier League’s (twice to once, as well as one UEFA appearance). Cech was also relegated to the bench for Chelsea’s third title in 2014/15. He probably just edges it thanks to his longevity (four seasons of excellent goalkeeping compared to three and two), but again you could make an argument either way.

Midfield

Midfield is also interesting. Wesley Sneijder only had one, albeit brilliant, season under Mourinho. He was excellent in Inter’s treble success, but then we don’t credit Maniche and Deco when they led Porto to the Champions League, two titles and a cup. In comparison, Mesut Ozil was one of Real's stars for all three of Mourinho’s seasons in Spain, twice featuring in the UEFA team of the year.

Essien is an interesting choice, a useful latecomer to both Chelsea and Real, but Mourinho won as much or more with Cambiasso, Xabi Alonso, Di Maria, Khedira, Kaka, Matic, Fabregas, Oscar and others, so there is plenty of room for argument. That’s ignoring the likes of Vieira, Modric, and Carrick who weren't really part of a Mourinho success story but have glittering CVs of their own.

The one certainty is that Frank Lampard makes it. He was consistently great under Mourinho, and Chelsea’s top goalscorer in both of their title-winning seasons. I will include him alongside Makélélé, who did the defensive equivalent. Ozil could round out the trio and provide creativity for the front three, or it would be good to start Zanetti on the right side as another defensive-minded player, allowing the forwards to run riot.

Forward

Their selection may prove to be the most divisive. Cristiano Ronaldo obviously makes the team, as he would probably make an XI of all teams, but there are question marks over the other two. Mourinho managed forwards including Benzema, Higuain, Ibrahimovic, Eto'o, Milito, Costa, Crespo, Adriano, Torres, Lukaku, and Kane, together with others. People seem to think that Didier Drogba walks into this team, but they are probably thinking along the same lines as with Ashley Cole. He was a Chelsea legend more than he was a Mourinho one. His peak came under Ancelotti, when Mourinho was long gone.

Drogba may have gone on to define Chelsea, but people easily forget that he wasn't the star in their two title-winning seasons. He started fewer than half of their league games in 2004/05, and only scored 10 goals as Eidur Gudjohnsen took the lead role. He played the same number of games as fellow forward Mateja Kezman, who we don’t remember in the same light. In the next year’s league campaign he still only started 20 times, with the line led by new signing Hernan Crespo, and scored 12 goals. He doesn’t make the XI with the most starts for either year:

Cech, Terry, Carvalho, Gallas, Ferreira, Makélélé, Lampard, Mendes, J Cole, Duff, Gudjohnsen

Cech, Terry, Carvalho, Gallas, del Horno, Makélélé, Lampard, Essien, J Cole, Robben, Crespo

He certainly wasn’t the club’s top scorer in either year, let alone anywhere near dominating the league. He only really established himself in 2006/07, when Shevchenko was brought in for Mourinho’s third season, and his famous flop left the space for Drogba to rise. Chelsea didn’t win the title that year, but Drogba’s 33 goals in 60 games across all competions helped them win both of the domestic cups, and he secured glory with winning goals in both finals.

Unfortunately, his form then dipped again alarmingly over the next two seasons. Chelsea’s rocky start to 2007/08 which saw Mourinho leave Chelsea was reflected by his record of one goal in their opening eight games (he would only score his second goal in their twelfth game of the season, but not before getting sent off in the eleventh). Overall, he had one excellent season under Mourinho, two useful ones, and one truly dire start, which was no blip but the beginning of a two year slump of disappointment, featuring repeated disciplinary issues (including the red card for slapping which lost them the Champions League), goal droughts and agitating to transfer. It’s a mixed memory at best, and tinted rose by his subsequent achievements under other managers.

The question is how that compares to the strikers Mourinho managed at closer to their prime. Diego Milito, for example: he led Inter to the treble with 30 goals in 52 games (he didn’t have a league cup to stat-pad in), including two goals and a Man of the Match performance in the Champions League final, a winner in the semis, and the only goal in the Coppa Italia final. That seems to be at least the equal to Drogba’s one top season, so the question is whether the additional time as a rotation option counts in his favour, or whether it dilutes his overall rating in terms of his performances under Mourinho.

Both Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuaín helped to fire Real to a record-breaking league title, and they were consistently top-class over Mourinho’s spell there. Benzema scored 32, 20, and 21 goals in 52, 50, and 52 games respectively, whilst Higuaín managed the slightly more modest hauls of 26 and 18 goals in 54 and 44 games before leaving for Naples. Their numbers are made more impressive when considering that Ronaldo was the team’s main goalscorer.

Then there is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who served Mourinho briefly but brilliantly at two clubs. He preceded Milito’s sublime Inter season with an excellent one of his own, 29 goals (and 9 assists) in 47 games, including the Golden Boot to fire them to the league title and the final goal in each round of the Coppa Italia. That earnt him a move to Barcelona, but Mourinho offered him a reunion at United eight years later, and he picked up where they’d left off: scoring 28 goals in 45 games, before injury forced an end to his momentum.

He had a massive impact on the United side as a talisman and leader, dragging them back up to 2nd in the league after their post-Fergie slump and leading them to victory in the EFL Cup and Europa League. He scored twice in the EFL Cup final, including a late winning goal, having kicked off their season by scoring the late winner that won United the Community Shield. Despite being injured in the Europa quarter finals, he recorded the second most goals and assists and duly made the team of the tournament (he was voted third overall).

It is worth noting that this wasn’t like Drogba hitting his prime in a team of double-champions (United’s previous three top scorers had managed just 17, 14, 19 goals in full, injury-free seasons), but Ibrahimovic hit similar numbers anyway. He beat all of Drogba’s seasons under Mourinho apart from one, and we have to assume he could have beaten those stats if he had been allowed to continue (overall he scored 5 fewer goals in 15 fewer games, and in the league he played 8 fewer games but 3 fewer goals, whilst still beating Drogba for assists).

His one Inter season was 25 goals and 7 assists in the league, five more goals and three more assists than Drogba’s best season at Chelsea whilst playing one fewer game. That’s two top seasons against one, and at two different clubs where Mourinho was new and needed a win. I know that there was more to Drogba beyond his goals, but the same is true of Ibrahimovic given his physical presence, impact on the team and higher assist tally. If we are looking at how the players performed under Mourinho overall, I thnk he has to edge it.

People will do doubt mention that Mourinho once said Drogba was the best player to have played under him. This was said whilst Mourinho was manager of Real, with Ronaldo scoring 50-60 goals a season and winning the Ballon d’Or, so unless we accept that Drogba is better than Ronaldo we can’t hold those words up as gospel seven years later. It also seems that Mourinho has fallen for the Drogba nostalgia I alluded to, because in a recent interview he listed him as his highest-scoring striker, with 186 goals in total and 46 per season. Drogba’s actual tally was 78, which would be 19 per season and compares much less favourably to the other figures in Mourinho’s speech (an average of 30, 29 and 26 goals for Milito, Ibrahimovic and Benzema respectively).

Hazard is another player who had one excellent season (Premier League player of the year) under Mourinho, but then went on a drought and saw him fired. Is that better than the forwards listed above, many of whom, like treble-winning Samuel Eto'o, could play wide? Or Arjen Robben and Joe Cole, who won Chelsea's first two Premier Leagues? Robben was consistently excellent across Mourinho's first three seasons at Chelsea and all the success they brought, but left just before the slump - that makes him a strong candidate, even without his later success.

This is without even mentioning players like Shevchenko, Pizarro, Luis Figo, Salah, De Bruyne, Mata, Pedro, Sanchez, Willian and Balotelli, or Duff and Wright-Phillips who featured with Cole and Robben in those original Chelsea teams, or even peak Angel Di Maria, who played opposite Ronaldo for Real. Depending on how you play it, there are so many options here. But we should look to get Ronaldo on his preferred right wing, and that means we need a left-sided player, which rules out Robben’s famous trick of cutting in from the right and shooting with his left foot. I have also avoided the temptation to just shoehorn in another striker, as some have done. In that case, I’m happy to concede to the popular demand for Hazard, and hope that this appeases those who will no doubt clamour for Drogba’s inclusion.

The final team is therefore as follows: Cech, Terry, Carvalho, Ferreira, Marcelo, Lampard, Makélélé, Ozil, Hazard, Ibra, Ronaldo. This seems to be the best selection of the basis of the reasoning above, although there were difficult decisions in many areas and I would happily change a number of elements, especially when it comes to midfield: this is set up as a free-flowing offensive team to make the most of the riches of attacking talent on offer, but Zanetti and others could easily come in to make it more secure as and when required. I’m conscious that Inter feel under-represented, but then Mourinho was only there for a short time and many of the stars only joined him for a single year, so a lack of longevity has seen them miss out to players from his longer stints at Chelsea and Madrid.

#football #Chelsea #Mourinho #Real Madrid

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basilepessoart · 23 days ago

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Puisqu'il est question de Claude Makélélé dans le texte précédent, je vais détailler sur la technique et la tactique foot, en me basant sur son poste, son style et son historique.

Il s'agissait d'un milieu défensif formé à Nantes, donc dans un des meilleurs centres de formation du monde. Mais alors qu'il appartenait aux équipes historiques du club, il ne s'est pas inscrit dans le "style à la nantaise", qui est celui du Barça ou d'Arsenal. Il n'avait pas les qualités pour, et ce n'est pas une critique, il en avait d'autres, disons un Deschamps en plus technique.

Le rôle de milieu défensif pur comme le leur est de rester en plein milieu du terrain, repositionner les joueurs, temporiser avec des passes vers l'arrière, parfois vers l'avant, tacler, stopper les offensives adverses. C'est besogneux mais tout le monde n'a pas l'appétence pour l'attaque, ni les qualités pour y participer.

Makélélé n'était ni un Emmanuel Petit, qui pratiquait le "dépassement de fonction" lemerrien, ni un Ray Parlour, qui faisait de même avec Arsenal, ni un Pirès qui a souvent été utilisé comme Dhorasoo en milieu dit "tournant" dans des structures en 4-5-1 (soit 4-2/3-1 soit 4-3/2-1), ou autres structures dont la pire, la 3-5-2 et sa variante la 3-6-1, modes d'il y a environ 25 ans qui ne fonctionnaient quasiment jamais sauf au Bayern de Munich et au Real Madrid, et qui tentaient de remplacer les ailiers par des défenseurs latéraux coulissants.

Pour plusieurs raisons, les latéraux n'ont pas les qualités des ailiers sauf exception type Dani Alves (même Roberto Carlos n'avait pas assez de qualité de centreur), donc le jeu à l'époque s'est resserré au centre du terrain, d'où le développement de la passe en profondeur, cancer zidanien s'il en est, ou de n'importe quel milieu offensif amateur (1 réussie, 25 foirées), que seuls Dhorasoo, Pirès et quelques autres maîtrisaient. Il s'agit d'une passe vers l'avant en anticipant les courses des partenaires d'attaque.

La fascination pour "Zizou" eu égard à ses exploits en solitaire a aveuglé les masses, incapables de voir ce que je viens de dire, ainsi que son brisage de jeu. Il n'y a pas eu que lui, il s'agit d'une tendance maghrébine type, exemples : Nasri et Ben Arfa, le 1er se calmant à Arsenal après des années surcotées à Marseille et en équipe de France.

Le milieu tournant est un joueur muni des deux capacités, d'attaque et d'endurance nécessaire au poste de milieu défensif.

Que ce soit à Lyon ou en équipe nationale, Domenech a tenté ces structures sans succès un certain temps, les joueurs lui ont demandé de revenir au 4-4-2, ce qu'il n'a pas vraiment fait, optant pour un entre-deux, le 4-2/3-1 (ou le 4-3/2-1).

Makélélé est le joueur domenechien type, car il ne fait rien de brillant, contrairement à un autre Franco-africain du même poste, N'golo Kanté, qui est allé gagner du fric au Moyen-Orient au lieu de continuer dans des vrais clubs.

Plus tard, j'expliquerai ce qu'est un autre cancer du foot, encore plus problématique que la passe en profondeur ou le 3-5-2 qui émane d'ailleurs de lui : le catenaccio, ou verrou italien. On est vraiment loin de la Dolce Vita et des pizzaïolos qui font virevolter la pâte en chantant "O Sole Mio".

Basile Pesso, Land of Somewhere, 27 novembre 2 024 (Fb) Mass Hysteria, La Démesure

#basile pesso #foot #football #sport #sports #écrivains #journalistes #Mass Hysteria #ratons lovers

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hspn · 5 years ago

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This mentoring session

Brother: I want to be in a mentoring session between him and Kanté where both of them just nod at each other.

#Claude Makélélé #N'golo Kanté #Chelsea FC #Twitter #hair sports #HSPN #soccer #football #sports

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jimi-rawlings · 1 year ago

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Claude Makélélé - Wikipedia

Jean-Claude Mauriat

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matstegen · 6 years ago

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IN MY OWN WORDS

A letter by Moussa Wagué

“I remember my arrival in Barcelona. I didn’t know anyone. Well, I knew their faces from the television. Fortunately, everybody welcomed me like a new member of the Blaugrana family. Firstly at Barça B, and then with the first team. In the beginning, the jokes that Piqué and Suárez made allowed me to relieve some of the pressure.

It made me realise that they were just normal guys… well, almost normal! I’ve never got that feeling with Messi. I haven’t dared to spend much time around him for the moment. What would he think if he knew that I wore his shirt when I was little? Maybe one day he’ll give me one of his real shirts, perhaps?

Meanwhile, I’m making a lot of progress every day with him, Suárez and Dembélé in training. Sometimes we look at our captain and our jaws drop at the things he does. Sometimes I watch Messi practicing free kicks. You can tell that he knows what he’s doing. I can’t imagine getting into a free kick competition with him.”

So, that’s that. My first season at Barça is over. Now I’m off to represent my country and show the progress I’ve made. A lot has happened since the World Cup in Russia last year. We have a trophy to win: The African Cup of Nations. Last year we came home from Russia with a bitter taste in our mouths.

We were the first country eliminated on Fair Play points. We missed out because of yellow cards! It was really frustrating. Our World Cup performances showed that we could compete with any team. It would be incredible to come back from Egypt with the first trophy in Senegal’s history. We are the favourites, but we have to show why on the pitch.

The national team squad is family. We grew up together, from youth level to now. We laugh a lot when we are together. I have my routines, especially before games. We eat some typical food (such as ‘Thieboudienne’, our national dish of rice and fish), dance around to alleviate some of the pressure, and pray together. Some of us are Muslim, others are Christian, but that doesn’t matter.

Our prayers are asking for the same thing, and we feel that we are united in our quest for a common goal. I also pray before Barça games, alone, because my faith helps me to feel the soul of a warrior. Barcelona is different to the city that I come from, Bignona, in the west of Africa and with only 27,000 inhabitants. When I was 6 years old, we played barefoot with whatever ball came to our feet. Our happiness was about kicking around a round piece of leather, or plastic.

We weren’t thinking about becoming professionals. We just wanted to play with the ball, without caring about time or material things. Starting out playing without boots helped me to perfect my technique and develop strong feet.

I was chosen to play 400km from home, in the Aspire Academy in Saly, with people from all around Africa and from Costa Rica. I remember that on the day of the trials I didn’t want to go, because I was scared of missing school and getting told off by my father. But it all went well.

There is everything that they need to progress in the best conditions there. It was almost like an ‘African La Masia’. We travelled around Europe a lot to play international tournaments like the MIC. It felt as if everything was beginning to get underway. We barely had time to catch our breath at the Aspire Academy. We had two training sessions per day. We were so motivated that we didn’t even feel the heat of the sun.

I went to Belgium when I was 18, to play for KAS Eupen. Going so far away didn’t scare me, as I already knew the older players from the academy who were playing at the club. Almost everybody there spoke French. My coach on the first team was former French international Claude Makélélé, who won the Champions League in 2002 and reached the World Cup final in 2006. I learned to be a warrior like he was when he played for Real Madrid and Chelsea. At KAS Eupen we had to battle to avoid relegation to the Second Division, and every point was hugely valuable.

Now, at Barça, its the opposite. A draw is considered to be a defeat, and winning is the norm. When the game begins, you always have the obligation to take the three points. This is a club separate from the rest, with their own philosophy. Before we play a match, the coach always tells me “You have to attack by defending.” At other clubs, the coaches are used to saying “Attack when you can, and get back quickly.”

There’s a winning culture here, and one of playing attacking football. I had the good fortune this year to end the season as part of the first team, winning the LaLiga title. I feel proud to be playing for the best club in the world, because Eto’o, Keita and Yaya Touré made me dream of this when I was a kid. I hope to be part of this group on a regular basis next season. I’ve got the African Cup of Nations and the preseason tour coming up for people to see me in action, if everything goes well.

At the World Cup, it was my historic goal for Senegal (making me the youngest African goalscorer at a World Cup), amongst other things, that allowed me to sign for Barça two months later.The national team could be a good showcase for my potential. Especially with Aliou Cissé as coach. He has taught me a lot since 2012. He’s been an example for me, ever since he was coach of the Under-23s. We have a relationship built on trust.

I never have doubts. He believes in me. God is on my side, and my family as well. I feel invincible and I will go as far as I set my sights. From day one, my father has given me that strength. He always urges me to put in the necessary effort in training and in games… even in school. I owe him everything.

Sometimes people ask me if my idol as a kid was Drogba, Eto'o, Diouf... But honestly, my only hero was my father.He calls me constantly. The rest of my family do too. Every time that the call me, it gives me an energy boost. They believe in me more than even I do. My friends installed a television at home, and when we’re playing an important game for the national team, they can follow my progress. Me playing for Barça is a dream come true for all of them. I’m the one on the pitch, but we are all there playing.

I remember my arrival in Barcelona. I didn’t know anyone. Well, I knew their faces from the television. Fortunately, everybody welcomed me like a new member of the Blaugrana family. Firstly at Barça B, and then with the first team. In the beginning, the jokes that Piqué and Suárez made allowed me to relieve some of the pressure.

When I come back in August, I want to train and play all the time with this group. I’ll fight until I achieve that. The support of my family and my country allows me to never have any doubts. My first year at Barça has been far from calm. I had to wait three months to obtain my work permit, then I injured my abductor. I was also sent off for pushing a fan who made fun of me and made racist insults towards me when we were losing with Barça B. I apologised, but I think that these kinds of people don’t belong in the stands.

When I signed for Barça I knew that I was going to play for the first team if I put together a run of good games with the B team. I’m on the right track. When I retire, I want to be remembered as a great player. Just that. A great player. Moussa (June 13, 2019)

#moussa wague #i miss watching barca b all of sudden #IM ALSO SCREAMING AT THE FACT THAT MOUSSA IDOLIZED MESSI BUT STILL HASN'T GOT HIS SHIRT #like you almost trained with him every day but you didn't get his shirt? moussa what are you doing #GO FOT IT MOUSSA #fc barcelona #fcb #who else is gonna watch afcon #fcb b #their timezone is so much friendlier than copa's #long post

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