Keita: "I hope to get better than last year"

Barcelona player Seydou Keita gave an interview to Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo.





You watched Koeman score the Champions League winning goal back in 1992. You could imagine back then that you would one day wear the same shirt as Koeman?
I remember that goal. It was a great shot. I was 12 years old and I was just a kid in Africa. I already knew that Barça was a big club but that was all far away for me.

When you were little, you followed some Barcelona player?
I liked Romario and Stoichkov a lot, like the majority of my friends. And alo Guardiola, for how he distributed thr game. And later there was Ronaldo.

Those are almost all strikers. Is there a goalscorer hidden inside you?
No, for me it's very clear which role I have in the team. I work for my team-mates, I help in the defensive organization and I try to help out in attack. I'm not Eto'o or Henry. They have other qualities. But if I can, of course I like to score.

Well, you scored two in two games now and the last one prevented a defeat.
You always have to have some luck when you score. I had it, but I think it's important that we're all focused on trying to score because every goal, no matter who scores it, can decide a game.

You proved that. The weekend before, you scored against Recreativo and you said you were focusing on scoring more goals, participating more in attack. And now you score again.
That's a coincidence but it's true that, when you play for Barcelona, you have to think about going forward while at the same time not forgetting other tasks. Little by little I'm starting to get better at it.

What did you feel when you heard the crowd exploding?
It's an undescribable feeling, an immense happiness.

What about kissing the pitch?
It's a normal thing to do for a muslim like myself. Ithers make a cross, I'm celebrating that way. I dedicated the goal to my wife and my son, who is now six months old.

Is it really hard to adapt to the 4-3-3?
It's an attacking system that is used by few clubs. It forces you to be very concentrated and to focus on your positioning. I needed some time to adapt because it's a new club, a new city, new team-mates... But I'm getting more and more confident and I hope to get better than I was last year in Sevilla.

Also regarding the number of goals?
I hope so. Last season I think I scored seven goals in the Liga and the Champions League. I would like to do better this season.

When will we see one of those powerfull shots from outside the box?
Yes, it's true I haven't launched a lot of those. It's not always possible because every game has its own circumstances. But I'm ready for it.


This was the first part of this interview. You can read the second part here tomorrow with Keita talking -among other things- about the rotations and why he played left back defender on Sunday.

Read more interviews with Barcelona players here