CAN-2025: Koulibaly, le Lion centenaire
Senegal welcomes back its captain at the heart of the Lions, Kalidou Koulibaly, after a one-match suspension, for his 101st cap, in the Africa Cup quarter-final against Mali, Friday (4pm) in Tangier.
The return of the boss. His authority was lacking against Sudan, eliminated (3-1) in the 8th after some defensive errors at the start of the match.
Koulibaly was suspended following his dismissal for a nasty tackle on Benin's Aiyegun Tosin, but "sacrificed himself for the team and will continue to do so," according to his coach Pape Thiaw.
Wearing the armband since 2019, always a starter except for his second selection, Koulibaly (34 years old) is the immortal captain, the one who lifted the AFCON trophy in the African sky for the first time in the history of Senegalese football, in 2022 in Cameroon.
A sweet revenge for a player who was suspended for the 2019 final, the first of a golden generation in Senegal, lost against Algeria (1-0) with a goal conceded on a defensive error at the very beginning of the match, enough to stir up his regrets.
The one whom the Napoli fans, where he played for eight years (2014-2022), nicknamed "the Rock", is one of the thirty-year-old musketeers of the den, with Sadio Mané (33 years old, 121 caps), Gana Gueye (36 years old, 125 caps) and the goalkeeper Edouard Mendy (33 years old, 53 caps).
The four veteran Lions reign supreme over one of the best African national teams of the decade, which will be playing in its third consecutive World Cup and will face France on June 16th in the group stage. They are ensuring a smooth transition to younger players poised for great things, symbolized in Morocco by Paris Saint-Germain's Ibrahim Mbaye.
"Mané, Koulibaly and the senior players have shown us the example," assures Antoine Mendy (21 years old), "they have played in at least five or six AFCON tournaments. They will guide the whole group to provide us with the best solutions."
The first of these remains the one whom the Italian press nicknamed "Kalidoubum" for an unforgettable goal against Juventus. He is the first penalty taker in shootouts and has always converted his.
He had notably perfectly launched the session towards the coronation during the glorious final against Egypt in Yaoundé (0-0, 4-2 on penalties).
The Lions may need this assurance if the quarter-final goes to penalties, as they have lost the two other shootouts played with Koulibaly, despite his success in the opening, against Cameroon in the quarter-finals in 2017 (0-0, 5-4 on penalties) and against Ivory Coast in the round of 16 (1-1, 5-4 on penalties) two years ago.
Koulibaly is not a goalscorer, having scored only twice in 100 appearances, including a crucial goal against Ecuador (2-1) in the 2022 World Cup to secure qualification for the round of 16, but Senegal can count on his unwavering love for the jersey.
Fourth in the 2011 U20 World Cup with the French team of Antoine Griezmann and Alexandre Lacazette, the player born in the Vosges and trained at FC Metz opted for the Lions of Teranga and honored his first cap in September 2015, during a victory against Namibia (2-0).
"It was a very, very important choice," he told the Chelsea website (where he played in 2022-2023), "because I could have played for the French national team, but at 23 or 24 years old, I decided to play for Senegal, because they were waiting for me."
"When I told (my parents) that I wanted to play for Senegal, I saw the light in their eyes and I knew it was the right choice," added the defender who now plays for Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia.
It was a choice he managed to impose on the fiery Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis, who had said he no longer wanted to recruit African players unless they agreed to forgo playing in the Africa Cup of Nations. "You can't talk about an African national team like that," the Lion had thundered.
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Aurelio De Laurentiis, qui avait dit ne plus vouloir recruter de joueurs africains à moins qu'ils ne renoncent à disputer la CAN. "On ne peut pas parler d'une équipe nationale africaine de cette manière", avait tonné le Lion. Ndlr
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