Keita Baldé Diao - LW/SS - Lazio (1 Viewer)

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piotrr

Мodеrator
Sep 13, 2011
33,765
#1
Had to create this thread after reading his Wiki :lol:

Keita Baldé Diao (born 8 March 1995) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Italian club Lazio and the Senegal national team.

Early career
Born in Arbúcies, Girona, Catalonia, to Senegalese parents, Keita came up through the FC Barcelona's youth academy. In 2010, Keita travelled with the Barcelona youth team to Qatar for a tournament, where he played a practical joke by placing an ice-cube in a teammate's bed.

As a punishment, Barcelona sent the 15-year-old Keita on loan to satellite club UE Cornellà, despite Keita's reputation as a future prospect for the first team. The loan meant Cornellà held the rights to a fraction of Keita's playing rights. After a season in which he scored 47 goals for Cornellà's youth side, Keita turned down the chance to return to Barcelona, attracting the interest of Real Madrid and Manchester United. :lol::lol:

Lazio
In the summer of 2011, he was signed by Serie A club Lazio for a fee of €300,000, of which 10% went to Cornellà.[2] Keita was unable to play official matches for Lazio's youth sides for a year, as he had to wait to be granted Spanish citizenship and the EU passport required for the Italian club to register him. However, he impressed while playing in the Torneo Karol Wojtyla youth competition, where he scored six goals in just four matches.[2]

Keita then spent the 2012–13 season playing with Lazio's Primavera youth side and training with the first team. He was selected by coach Vladimir Petković to sit on the bench for some matches in the latter part of the season but did not make his senior debut.

Promoted to the first team for the following season, Keita made his league debut in a 3–0 home win against Chievo at the Stadio Olimpico on 15 September 2013, coming on as a late substitute for Luis Pedro Cavanda.[3] Five days later, Keita made his debut in the Europa League group stage match against Legia Warsaw, starting and providing the match's only goal scored by Hernanes.[4] On 10 November 2013, he scored his first senior goal in a 1–1 draw against Parma.[5]

On 18 August 2015 Keita came off the bench to score the only goal of the game as Lazio beat Bayer Leverkusen 1–0 in the first leg of their Champions League play-off at the Stadio Olimpico.[6]

Keita fully established himself in the starting lineup in the 2016–17 season,[7] scoring his first goal of the season in Serie A matchday 6 against Empoli at home.[8] On 6 March of the following year, Keita made his 100th Serie A appearance in the 2–0 win at Bologna.[9] Later on 23 April, Keita scored his maiden hat-trick, contributing in Lazio's 6–2 thrashing of Palermo, taking his tally up to 11 goals, reaching double figures for the first time in his career.[10] He completed the hat-trick in five minutes, making it the fastest hat-trick scored in Serie A since 1974–75 season.[11] One week later, in the Derby della Capitale against Roma for the matchday 34, Keita scored a brace, as Lazio won 3–1, the first win in league against them since November 2012.[12] He also become the first Lazio player to score a brace in the derby since Roberto Mancini in 1998–99 season.[13]

International career
Keita was born in Spain to parents of Senegalese descent. Although he was eligible to play for Spain, Keita chose to play for his parents' country, Senegal, being called up by their manager, Aliou Cissé, for the match against Niger, valid for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group K.[14] He made his debut for Senegal in a 2–0 win over Niger as a late sub.[15] He also played a friendly match with Catalonia national team in December 2015 against Basque Country.[16]

 

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Osman

Koul Khara!
Aug 30, 2002
59,079
#3
Wait that was all he did? No way lol. When I read when he said that he left Barca due to too strict rules, I assumed he was severely ill disciplined rebel, but a friggin ice cube? :howler:

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Ocelot

Midnight Marauder
Jul 13, 2013
18,943
#19
Wait that was all he did? No way lol. When I read when he said that he left Barca due to too strict rules, I assumed he was severely ill disciplined rebel, but a friggin ice cube? :howler:

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Probably a "last straw" type of situation :D

But great story anyways :lol:
 
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