This Tuesday evening in Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis), Amadou Haïdara’s uncle and aunt will certainly be in front of their television sets to watch their nephew against PSG. Before this meeting, the Malian midfielder, whom everyone calls “Doudou”, returned to the last match against Paris, won 2-1. But also on his relationship with the French in the workforce and his period of forced quarantine after being positive for Covid-19.
Did you feel the fragile PSG during the first leg?
AMADOU HAIDARA. Before we scored, PSG were really well in place. They hurt us. I think if they had scored the penalty it would have been different. We started badly but we stayed strong and when we scored, we all said to ourselves: We can do it. It is true that they lacked great players like Mbappé and Neymar. We feel that when the two are there, it’s another game and we will have to raise our level further if they are there. Frankly, I didn’t feel them less confident or more crumbly. I just think we were stronger in the second half.
After the Champions League semi-final, what changes have been made to improve Leipzig and take a step forward this season?
There hasn’t really been much that has changed since August. Perhaps arrivals and departures in the transfer window… It is above all the coach who had the right words to encourage us and get us back to work. It was our third appearance in the Champions League and the first thing he did after the semi-final against PSG was to congratulate us on our journey. He is a rigorous and picky young coach, who wants to get the most out of everyone. He has a great understanding with his players, talks a lot and often asks us our vision of the game.
Affected by the Covid in October, you held the first leg against Paris a few days after your quarantine. How do you explain having played in such good shape?
I learned I had the coronavirus just coming back from selection in October. When the doctor told me about it, I was really pissed off because I knew there were some great games to play. So I had to stay at home and frankly it’s boring to be home doing nothing. It was really weird, I had no problem, I felt good, in great shape but I couldn’t train. But I also worked well because I knew that at the end of this period of quarantine there was PSG. I really had to keep my shape so as not to start from scratch.
You arrived in Europe in 2016 and played for Salzburg and Leipzig. Can you describe the Red Bull system?
In Salzburg the club members helped me a lot and taught me how to be a good professional. I come from Mali, Africa and when I arrived, there were a lot of things that I did not know, especially on the discipline. The simple fact of being on time all the time, of caring well or the way to eat. We often trained twice a day, in Mali it was rarer. And when I arrived in Leipzig, I already knew all these notions. So it was easier to adapt, because they are two universes that are very similar.
You were a replacement in the Champions League semi-final against PSG in August. Do you think you can establish yourself as an indisputable holder?
Last year was a difficult season for me. But the coach didn’t want to let me go. I often speak with Nagelsmann (Editor’s note: the coach) to understand what he expects from me in the field
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It was also my first season with him and he told me that gradually I was going to improve tactically. And he was right because today I feel better.
You are close to the French players in Leipzig. How did they help you in your adaptation?
With Dayot (Umpamecano), we know each other from Salzburg, where we played together. He helped me a lot when I arrived in Leipzig, as did Ibrahima Konaté or Nordi Mukiele, who arrived at the same time as me. There was also Jean-Kévin Augustin. We are a family. We went out to eat, we went out, we laughed together. These are the little things that have helped us all a lot.
