Know The Tough Defender Kalidou Koulibaly

He managed to bring his country Senegal to the Qatar 2022 World Cup and won the Africa Cup of Nations by beating the same team, namely Egypt

Kalidou Koulibaly walked slowly towards the podium. There his comrades were waiting with attributes such as scarves or the Senegalese flag tied around their waists.

They all wanted to celebrate the title they had just won. And so, when Koulibaly arrived with the trophy in hand, everyone was enthusiastic. It didn't take long, Koulibaly immediately lifted the trophy to the top along with his teammates' fists, a sign of happiness.

Senegal has just won its first African Cup of Nations trophy in history. The trophy obtained after winning the penalty shootout against Egypt with a score of 4-2.

"We are very happy, we know how difficult it is to win the Africa Cup of Nations and we did it. We deserved to win this title because we have an extraordinary team," said Koulibaly after the game.

Senegal does have complete material in this edition of the African Cup of Nations. Not only Sadio Mane on the front lines, "Lion Teranga" also has Idrissa Gueye in the middle, to Edouard Mendy in goal. In addition, experienced figures like Koulibaly also greatly helped Senegal win the title.

Life Story Kalidou Koulibaly was actually not born in Senegal. He was born and raised in a town in France called Saint-Die. The area in northeastern France is indeed mostly filled by immigrants from Senegal, Morocco, and Turkey.

Koulibaly's father, a woodcutter, came first to France. Working hard without time, the father managed to raise money to take his mother to France.

However, Koulibaly was not too long in France. At the age of six, he returned to Senegal and remained there growing up.

Although born in France, Koulibaly still lives in harmony with his colleagues in Senegal. Koulibaly had a sweet story when he watched Senegal's match against France at the 2002 World Cup.

At that time, Koulibaly was in school. The start of the match coincided with the time of entry. The teacher asks to open the book, but Koulibaly thinks that Diouf, Zidane, and Thierry Henry will compete.

Five minutes of class passed, the teacher asked his students including Koulibaly to close the book. The teacher then turned on the tv and told his students to watch Senegal's match against France.

The students who witnessed also had different backgrounds. Some are of Turkish, Moroccan, Senegalese, and French descent. Senegal won the match, Koulibaly came home and saw his friend's Senegalese parents dancing in the street.

Everyone was happy, even people of Turkish and French descent joined in the dance celebrating Senegal's victory. It was one of the most beautiful moments in Koulibaly's life.

Koulibaly's football career started at several French clubs. SR Saint-Die -the football team in his birthplace- became the first. Then, Koulibaly moved to FC Metz in 2009.

Only one year in the Metz youth team, Koulibaly immediately made his debut in the senior team in the match against Vannes in Ligue 2. At that time, Koulibaly came on for Fallou Diagne in the 69th minute.

In total, Koulibaly played 46 times for Metz. Unfortunately, Metz failed to bring promotion to the top division of French football competition.

Even so, Koulibaly's talent can still be smelled by other European clubs. In July 2012, Koulibaly moved to Belgian club KRC Genk. There, Koulibaly glowed even more. Besides always getting the main place, Koulibaly also had the opportunity to play in the Europa League.

Playing in big tournaments made Koulibaly's talent even more noticed by big European clubs. Until finally, Napoli managed to get his services in the 2014/15 season.

When asked who is a tough center back in Serie A and the world today, Koulibaly is one of them. Even though his club Napoli sometimes have to lose, Koulibaly's light is still shiny as a doorstop that is difficult for opponents to penetrate.

So what are the advantages of Kalidou Koulibaly as a tough defender?

His large stature makes Koulibaly swiftly overcome the opponent's cross. His physicality is supported by his excellent reading of the game.

Despite his big stature, Koulibaly is not a slow defender. He can quickly chase the opponent's attackers, then make tackles or intercepts.

Koulibaly's speed is also affected by his positioning and composure against opponents. He will not carelessly grab the ball and prefers to wait for the opponent to falter.

Another advantage that Koulibaly has is the ability to distribute the ball. This is what makes the 30-year-old player named an accomplished ball playing defender.

Koulibaly is averaging 21.7 complete short passes per 90 minutes. Koulibaly's progressive passing also stands at 3.88 per game.

A brilliant record was also inscribed by Koulibaly on the African Cup of Nations stage. The 30-year-old centre-back has only missed twice this tournament due to COVID-19.

The rest, Koulibaly has always been a pillar in the Senegalese back line. Noted, Senegal kept three clean sheets when Koulibaly played and only conceded twice.

Koulibaly is also averaging 1.8 tackles, 2.2 clearances and 1 intercept per game. Koulibaly is also good at distributing the ball via passing accuracy which reaches 85 percent and long ball up to 63 percent.

When the transfer market came, Koulibaly's name was often discussed. There are already many big European teams who want the signature of Kalidou Koulibaly.

However, the transfer never happened because Koulibaly remained loyal to Napoli until now.

Loyalty who was tempted to make money at other clubs but he chose to educate himself for Napoli and was loyal to the possibilities until he retired from the world of football.

One player who will be remembered and will become a symbol of Napoli is Kalidou Koulibaly whether he wins the Serie A title or not.