Chelsea lost their first game with Frank Lampard as manager on Saturday against Wolves. Kalidou Koulibaly, the Blues’ defender, believes that Frank Lampard is just the person to help them out of their difficult spot. Chelsea sits 11th in the Premier League and are up for a challenge against Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals starting Wednesday. Despite this, they are still hoping to accomplish something big this year!
Frank Lampard used to play for Chelsea Football Club and was their top scorer of all time. During his 13 years with the club, he won three major league titles and the 2012 Champions League. After that, he managed Chelsea from 2019-2021.
Koulibaly, captain of Senegal’s national team said that they know Frank Lampard is a celebrity in Chelsea and has trained half of the players. He also mentioned that he’ll support them until the end of the season and help them out any way he can.
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The previous manager of Brighton, Potter, was sacked on 2 April. He spent a lot of money (about £550m) on getting new football players this season. When someone asked if Potter will soon get a different job in football again, Koulibaly who is from Napoli and joined Brighton last summer said that he thinks so. He also spoke highly of Potter saying that he is a nice manager and person and has helped Koulibaly a lot.
When I first arrived at Chelsea, it was tough for me, but the staff here was really supportive and helped me a lot. Even though I feel sad for him, this is just part of his job.
I hope he find success and happiness in the future, but for now we are all focused on Chelsea and Frank Lampard.
Koulibaly
Koulibaly is one of four Muslim players in Chelsea’s team who are following the Ramadan fast. Recently, he visited his local mosque and joined the people there for a meal that marked the end of their daily fasting – this was called an “Open Iftar”. It was a special event as it was held at a Premier League stadium, which has never happened before!
Koulibaly says there are four Muslim soccer players on the team – Wesley Fofana, N’Golo Kante, Hakim Ziyech and himself. They talk with each other about their religion because it is very important to them.
Right now they are celebrating Ramadan which includes fasting during the day. During last week’s match against Liverpool the coaches paused the game so that the Muslim players could have a break and get some energy back.
My team-mates usually have questions about Ramadan, thinking it’s only about not eating or drinking. I let them know that it’s actually much more than that – its purpose is to understand better what we read in the Quran and to learn from our Prophet Muhammad. So if someone asks me, I’m able to answer confidently.
When I came here and saw that there were breaks during the games for Muslim people to take a break, drink something, rest and relax, it was really cool. I had never seen that before and thought it was great.
I remember seeing on TV when Wesley went to Leicester and broke his fast during the game. It was awesome to see them do this for me too, I was very happy about it and look forward to the next time!
“Koulibaly and Lukaku Unite in the Face of Racism”
Two years ago, Koulibaly was the subject of racist chants from Inter Milan fans when he was playing for Napoli. Last week Romelu Lukaku, who plays for Inter Milan, was also racially abused by Juve fans during a cup match. After scoring a penalty in the dying minutes of the game, he held his finger to his lips and asked Serie A (the Italian soccer league) to make sure the racism would be taken seriously this time.
Koulibaly played for eight years in Italy for Napoli, and has gone through some very unfortunate experiences. He was a target of racist abuse from fans, like during an Inter match back in 2018. He doesn’t understand why stupid people feel like they can say or do anything they want to him. It’s not right, and he stands with Romelu against it.
I know how this feels, and it’s not good. We should be proud of what he did: He didn’t respect anybody and just let his feelings out. It was a good thing for me, but other people might have been irritated since they were mean to him in the first place. Even though it’s sad, we all support him.
Benzema Shines
Koulibaly had a match against Karim Benzema in the Champions League in 2017. Recently, Chelsea’s coach Lampard came back to the field but sadly their team lost 1-0 at Wolves. Right now, it doesn’t look much better as Chelsea will compete with Real Madrid soon which includes Benzema who has been doing really great with 26 goals from all sorts of matches including two hat-tricks (three goals or more) within his last three games!
Last season, Benzema scored an awesome hat-trick fifteen minutes before the game ended! Chelsea was forced out of the competition then.
Koulibaly said that Benzema was the best striker in the world and he hoped Chelsea will win this upcoming match as a test.
Our goal is difficult because the other team won the Champions League. We believe in ourselves and our teammates, as well as our manager. I’m really proud of Benzema, he shows that even while fasting during Ramadan you can still score goals and be successful. I hope he keeps scoring, but not against us on Wednesday. To make sure you don’t miss out on any Chelsea news, here’s everything you need to know.
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