1981/05/18
Mahamadou Diarra
Bamako, Mali
183 cm(6ft)
79 kg
Defensive Midfield
Madrid,Spain
Club information
Real Madrid
21(2 goals) OFI Crete 1998-1999
69(9goals)Vitesse 1999-2002
121(7)Lyon 2002-2006
84(3)Real Madrid 2006-
Mali National tea,
2001- Mali 022 (5)
Facts & Background
Contents |
About
Mahamadou Diarra (Arabic: محمدو ديارا) (born 18 May 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.
Club Football
Early career
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.
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 18 August 2006 Real Madrid reached an agreement with Lyon for €26 million. On 22 August, 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 favour 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 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.
International Football
International Goals
| Date | Team | Competition | Goals Scored |
|---|---|---|---|
Awards and Honours
French Ligue 1 (5 titles): 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 with Olympique Lyonnais.
Trophée Des Champions (4 titles): 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 with Olympique Lyonnais.
Spanish La Liga (2 titles): 2006-07, 2007-08 with Real Madrid.
Supercopa de España (1 title): 2008-09.
3rd place, 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship with Mali under-20 team
Personal Awards
| Previous Winner | Award | Year | Successor |
|---|---|---|---|
Career Statistics
| Team | Season | Domestic League | Domestic Cups | International | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | G | A | M | G | A | M | G | A | M | G | A | ||
| Total | |||||||||||||
M = Matches, G = Goals, A = Assists
Personal Info
Wife / Girlfriend
Sponsors
Important Links
(Spanish) Real Madrid biography
(French) Olympique Lyonnais biography
FootballDatabase profile and career statistics
AC Milan keen on Real Madrid midfielder Diarra About Diarra on rus
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