Ibrahima Konate continued his excellent World Cup by helping France to a 2-0 win over Morocco last night.
That result put them in back-to-back World Cup finals, as they aim to seal a third title in seven tournaments. While it would be wrong to say that Konate has been at the heart of that effort, he has certainly played his part.
More than played his part, you’d have to say. And the stats back that up, too. As per OptaJoe on Twitter, the Liverpool man is leading the way in tackles and interceptions for any player with three or more starts.
Grouping tackles and interceptions as one, Konate has made 6.9 per 90 minutes. That just goes to show that although France have made things look relatively easy in their run to the final, they’ve still had to do plenty of defending, too.
Luckily for them, and luckily for Liverpool, they’ve got one of the best young defenders on the planet to help them with that.
Keep up the brilliant work, Ibou!
Konate set to shine for club and country
How good is it to know that Liverpool managed to tie Konate down long before the current tournament in Qatar?
Had they waited another 18 months to sign the big man, the Reds would surely have paid a heck of a lot more than they did. In the end, the £35m spent on Konate is starting to look like another Michael Edwards masterclass.
And he’s still only twenty-three. Still not a guaranteed starter for Liverpool, you’d have to expect he will be by this time next year at the latest.
As a result of France’s ridiculously stacked squad, he still isn’t a regular in the XI for Didier Deschamps either. But after his colossal performance last night, he’ll be hopeful of sneaking into the team for Sunday’s final.
Do that and his stock will surely rise even further. As part of the back four trying to stop Lionel Messi winning his World Cup, legendary status could await him.
Regardless of whether Konate does start against Argentina, he’s been absolutely brilliant in Qatar. He’ll surely be a feature of his national team, and Liverpool, for the next decade to come.
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