Barcelona player Seydou Keita gave an interview to Algerian sports paper Le Buteur.
After you scored against Lyon last week, we saw you kneel down and then lift your arms up to the sky. What did you say?
I just repeated 'El Hamdoullah' in Arab several times. It's absolutely normal when you're a muslim, when you are religious, to thank God every time you're happy and I was really happy then to have scored that goal. Being a muslim, my first reaction was to thank God. And even when things are doing bad, we always thank God.
Do you speak Arab?
No but I express in Arab when I pray or when I'm reading the koran.
Talking about islam, you have been one of the few players who supported Kanouté after his action in favour of Gaza (note: after having scored earlier this year, Kanouté displayed a pro-palestine shirt). What can you tell us about that?
When you're a muslim, you have to denounce injustices. This time, it had to do with the Palestinians, but that could have been other people and I would have supported him as well. It's not normal for a muslim to watch people die and not to do anything. Kanouté has done what he thought to be useful and the least thing for me, as a Malian and as a muslim, was to support him. I'm convicned that a lot of players didn't like what happenened in palestina.
There are three muslims at Barça: you, Abidal and Yaya Touré. Do you sometimes help eachother out?
Yes, we do. Barça is a solid team with very clear sporting objectives. So we help eachother out both on and off the pitch, independently of the other being muslim, catholic or protestant. At Barça, our joint cause is football and everyone respects the other's opinions. Personally, when I have to pray at the stadium or during travelling, I do it without shocking anybody.
And how are you dealing with the ramadan?
For us, top level players, it's very difficult to do our job while respecting the ramadan. But that doesn't mean I'm not following it. Something it's more complicated, for example when we have two games in one week, but also then I still try to abstain. In the worst case, I eat but then I compensate that later. If you really believe, everyting becomes possible en I'm doing all I can to properly combine my job and the five pillars of islam.
When we take a look at the Malian national team, we see that they have several top level players like yourself, Kanouté, Real Madrid's Diarra... Why aren't you able to set another step that would allow you to win the African Cup of Nations or to qualify for the World Cup?
You've named three first level players, there's a fourth one, Sissoko, and even a fifth one, but a team has more than five players. It's true that we have excellent young players, but it's difficult for them to compete with the best African teams like Cameroon or Ivory Coast. We nevertheless still have a chance to qualify for the World Cup and it's up to us to prove we can do it.
The fact that you're the nephew of Salif Keita, has this been a disadvantage or has it on the contrary opened some doors for you in Spain?
Sincerely, it's the first time that I'm asked this question. Being the nephew of a former star player doesn't mean anything because in the end a player is judged by his performances on the pitch and not by is name or his ancestors. Salif doesn't even give me advise because I always go to my father when I need advise. I just exchange some polite words with Salif when we meet at the national team.
What do you watch on television?
I might surprise you, but when I'm with my wife and my son, I love to watch African, and especially Ivorian, stage play. I also like to watch documentaries late at night and, of course, the relgious programs on 'Canal Satellite'. So you can say I'm not a cinephile.
That means you don't have a favourite actor or actress?
Well, let's say Will Smith. Let's go for him, even though I'm not watching a lot of movies!
Read more:
Agent Keita denies Marseille talks
Keita: "Guardiola has a lot of confidence in me"
Abidal wants to obtain Algerian nationality
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Algerian sports paper Le Buteur claims that Sif Eddine Cherifi "Sisso", a five-year old Algerian football player, will travel to Barcelona for tests next month.
