Mahamadou Diarra

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Mahamadou Diarra
Personal information
Full name Mahamadou Diarra
Date of birth May 18, 1981 (1981-05-18) (age 27)
Place of birth    Bamako, Mali
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position Defensive Midfield
Club information
Current club Real Madrid
Number 6
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1998-1999
1999-2002
2002-2006
2006-		 OFI Crete
Vitesse
Lyon
Real Madrid		 021 (2)
069 (9)
121 (7)
062 (3)   
National team2
2001- Mali 022 (5)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 22:12, 18 May 2008 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 3 September 2006.
* Appearances (Goals)

Mahamadou Diarra (Arabic: محمدو ديارا) (born May 18, 1981 in Bamako, Mali) is a Malian football defensive midfielder who signed for Real Madrid in the summer of 2006. Diarra has played several international matches for the Mali national team.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Diarra started his career with Greek side OFI Crete and Dutch side Vitesse. He played for French club Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon) from 2002 until 2006, winning four Ligue 1 titles. Diarra was compared to top French midfielders like Patrick Vieira and Claude Makélélé and established himself as one of the top defensive midfielders in the game. Many people who have worked with him, including former Vitesse manager Ronald Koeman, felt that Diarra had the potential to succeed at the highest sporting level, but that he needed to learn how to control his strong temperament.

[edit] Real Madrid

He was rated very highly by Lyon manager Gérard Houllier, who said that Diarra would not be leaving Lyon cheaply. His €40 million price tag matched the price Chelsea F.C. paid Lyon for Michael Essien in the summer 2005. Real Madrid joined in the race to sign Diarra, along with Manchester United, and on August 18, 2006 Real Madrid reached an agreement with Lyon for €26 million. On August 22, he was unveiled at the Santiago Bernabeu by Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón, and he was assigned the number 6 shirt; Iván Helguera's prior season shirt number.

In the 2006-2007 season, Diarra was a staple player in Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello's 2-defensive midfielder system; however, a string of poor results saw Diarra relegated to the bench in favor of a new system. Guti, a more offensive-minded midfielder replaced him, while Capello favored Brazilian Emerson in the defensive position. By mid-December, Diarra, complaining about lack of playing time, found himself a regular on the Real Madrid bench. In May 2007 Diarra was linked with a summer move to Italian side AC Milan. In the final game of the season, however, Diarra headed in a match-winning goal in Madrid's come-from-behind victory over Real Mallorca. Diarra put in a strong overall performance in the match, which Madrid went on to win 3-1. The victory saw Madrid win La Liga and end its longest trophy drought in half a century. Diarra's main strength is his workrate and his power in the air, but his only weakness is his temperament. He was one of Madrid's best players when they won the league. Diarra was supposed to be playing for Mali instead of Madrid in the last match of the season, but FIFA ordered him to play for Madrid in that game.

He is very popular amongst the Real Madrid players as well. Rumours went around saying coach Bernd Schuster was going to sell him in the summer transfer window of 2008. As Real Madrid were celebrating their 2007/08 Primera Liga title, Diarra moved to the front of the players started to dance to a chant of "Diarra stays, Diarra stays. Diarra can't be sold, Diarra can't be sold!"[1]

[edit] Career stats

Club Season League Cups Continental Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
CSK Bamako 1997
1998
Total - - - - - - - -
OFI Crete 1998-99 21 2 - - - - 21? 2?
Total 21 2 - - 0 0 21 2
Vitesse 1999-00 16 2 - - - - 16 2
2000-01 29 4 - - - - 29 4
2001-02 24 3 - - - - 24 3
Total 69 9 - - - - 69 9
Olympique Lyonnais 2002-03 28 1 - - 7 0 35 1
2003-04 27 1 - - 10 0 37 1
2004-05 33 2 - - 9 2 42 4
2005-06 31 3 - - 9 2 41 5
2006-07 2 0 1 0 - - 3 0
Total 121 7 1 0 35 4 157 11
Real Madrid 2006-07 33 3 3 0 5 1 41 4
2007-08 29 0 6 0 0 0 35 0
Total 62 3 9 0 5 1 76 4
Career total 273 21 10 0 40 5 321 26

[edit] International goals

Mahamadou Diarra: International Goals
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
 ? 6 February 2007 La Courneuve, Paris, France Flag of Lithuania Lithuania 3-1 Win Friendly
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Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.


[edit] Honours

[edit] External references

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Ream Madrid Players: Diarra must stay!", tribalfootball.com, 2008-05-06. Retrieved on 2008-05-08. 
v • d • e
Real Madrid C.F. – current squad

1 Casillas • 2 Salgado • 3 Pepe • 4 Ramos • 5 Cannavaro • 6 Diarra • 7 Raúl • 8 Gago • 9 Soldado • 10 Robinho • 11 Robben • 12 Marcelo • 13 Codina • 14 Guti • 15 Drenthe • 16 Heinze • 17 van Nistelrooy • 18 Saviola • 19 Baptista • 20 Higuaín • 21 Metzelder • 22 Torres • 23 Sneijder • 24 Balboa • 25 Dudek • Coach: Schuster