Long letter from Kalidou Koulibaly to the portal” The Players Tribune “with the blue defender who tells and tells, from the beginning in France to the Neapolitan adventure. “I started playing as a child, between France and Senegal. In my neighborhood there were other children who were children of other immigrants and we all played together, without distinction. In 2002 we watched the World Cup matches of France with the classmates who came from all over Africa, Senegal won against the French and at my house it was a big party. This is football. You can have everything in life, all the money you want, but you can never buy friendship, family and happiness “.
Impossible not to mention the racist episodes in Italy. “Many people ask me questions, but I think you only understand that when you live on your skin. It’s hard to live, it’s hard to explain, the first time with Lazio I wondered if they were serious, I was there just to do my job that I love with all of myself. The referee came up to me and said “I’m with you, don’t worry, tell me if you want to continue”, but finishing the race was the only thing I wanted despite the incessant choirs, “he added. A child who was at the stadium, at the end of the game, told me I’m sorry and it was important for me. Children see the world in another way “.
“Before Napoli I was worried: I didn’t speak Italian and I heard so many bad stories about the city. When Benitez called me I thought of a joke, then asked my agent to take me in blue. I knew nothing about the city, about the team, but I knew Rafa and impressed me with his call, “Koulibaly continued. “De Laurentiis thought I was taller the first time he saw me, he joked about the price paid at the Genk and I told him to pay the price in full and that those missing inches would be returned to him at every action. Today I am no longer Senegalese or French, when I come home from my family I am “the Neapolitan”. Napoli is a city that knows how to love, it reminds me of Africa for this. They consider me a child, since I am there I am a different man, really at peace with himself “.
A double love “born” in the city. I am happy that my son was born in Napoli. The day we gave birth to our wife we played with Sassuolo, Sarri didn’t want me to go to the clinic, then he asked me to come back from the hospital to play. When I arrived at the San Paolo in a hurry I realized that he had put me on the bench. I wanted to cry, but today I laugh: it gives a sense of what Napoli and football means to me, we must live that city to understand it “.
From: Il Mattino.
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