Liverpool’s French defender spoke about his growth as a player for the club and his goals for the season ahead of a Champions League clash with Lille.
Ibrahima Konaté has become a key figure alongside Virgil van Dijk over the past two seasons. The French defender took some time to establish himself after joining Liverpool in the summer of 2021, but he has shown himself to be one of the best in the world when healthy. Ahead of a Champions League clash with Lille, Konaté spoke about his growth since joining the club, and how that has helped him become a leader, including taking on captaincy for France in a Nations League match this past fall.
“I remember I came in this club when I was 21, I was really young and the players around me were older than me,” said Konaté.
“I think I grow up in every situation like a human, like a player and I take a lot of experience. I think the club helped me a lot to be the captain of the French squad. It was a great moment for me but it was just the start and I just have to work hard to be in this way.”
Konaté’s growth has been integral to Liverpool’s success, with the defender frequently left on an island to cover vast amounts of space while Trent Alexander-Arnold makes forays forward to join in the attack. Konaté has frequently pocketed typically potent attackers with a blend of blazing recovery pace to go alongside his imposing size and strength that lets him dominate physical battles. He has helped to anchor a defense that has conceded the fewest goals in both the Premier League AND the Champions League to this point. Despite the defensive prowess, Konaté revealed that he has a personal goal to find the back of the net four times this season. Of course, if he doesn’t score but the side win and record a clean sheet, he’d be quite alright with that.
“This is very important, especially for a defender. We want a clean sheet always. Like I said, I’ve scored five goals and I really hope for more because my target this season is to score four goals – I have two left. If I score two more, I will be very happy.”
“But the most important thing is to have a win with a clean sheet and for my goal it’s OK, it’s not important.”
Konaté and Liverpool only need a draw when the host Lille in Champions League play tomorrow to secure a spot in the Round of 16, skipping the initial knockout play off round. The Frenchman says the squad want to keep their place at the top of the table, however, and will be looking to take all the points off of a motivated visiting side still trying to ensure they make it to the knockouts.
“This is one of our targets, to finish top of the Champions League [league phase], but this will start tomorrow again because we play against Lille. It’s a very good team and we have to be ready because they come here to make a result against us. We will try to have [the] three points tomorrow.”