Foot Mercato: how are you feeling at the start of the season?
Himad Abdelli: I feel good, back after my injury. This summer was a bit chaotic because I had my operation. But here, I’m really finding my true form like last season. And little by little, I’m getting back to 100% and I feel like I’m improving as the matches go on. I now have the experience of Ligue 1, I am no longer bothered by pain. I think this year could be my benchmark season.
Foot Mercato: on the pitch, what is your player profile?
HA : I like to have fun on the field, everything that is statistical is not for me. If I feel that I am producing good football on the pitch, that I am achieving a good control, a good pass or a dribble, I prefer that to doing stats every match. A full match for me is a match where you don’t lose a lot of balls. It’s our role, the midfielders, not to lose a lot of balls, to move the game forward. People must enjoy themselves. It’s always nice to score or make assists. But I prefer it when my team plays the ball well.
Foot Mercato: what are your sources of inspiration?
HA : Zinedine Zidane is the one who made most people of my generation fall in love with him. He’s really the guy who didn’t care about stats. He wanted to play well on the pitch, to show his qualities. And then the goals and assists came.
“The coach tells me that I am a natural leader”
Foot Mercato: what is your role in the SCO locker room?
HA : I am in an age bracket between young and old. So I make the link between the two. Things are going well and the whole group is living well. The coach often tells me that I am a natural leader. I’m not the player who will speak, who will encourage the guys with speeches. But on the pitch, it’s something else, you have to show that you’re there and take everyone with you.
Foot Mercato: draw against Marseille and Monaco, narrow defeats against Paris and Lyon. Are you a team that is capable of annoying the big guys this season?
HA : I think we are capable of annoying a lot of teams. Now, the most important thing, as we said, are the points, the victories. It’s up to us to score, not to concede behind, because for example against Marseille, we took two quite quickly. I think that if we played well, we could perhaps even win at the Vélodrome.
Foot Mercato: what relationship do you have with Belkebla, your compatriot who occupies the double pivot with you?
HA : off the field, he’s a friend, we see each other often. On the ground, we complement each other. He’s a very good football player. He runs a lot and is very active on the field. We complement each other well and I think we feel it in the matches. In the middle, we try to manage well and it works quite well.
“We will try to maintain ourselves as quickly as possible”
Foot Mercato: what are the ambitions of Angers in this Ligue 1, to obtain maintenance?
HA : we, the players, hope for more. Now we know that maintenance is our primary objective. For the moment, we are in this race. So we can’t lie to ourselves. We will try to maintain ourselves as quickly as possible. If this is done, we will try to move up the rankings.
Foot Mercato: there are two young people in Angers who are making strong impressions Prosper Peter and Sidiki Chérif, what do you think of these 2 players?
HA : I’m happy for them because at 18, playing in Ligue 1, starting or replacing, is great. They score goals. Now it’s up to them to work even harder to hope to go as high as possible. Sidiki has been training with us for longer. He was hampered by injury last year. Prosper, in front of goal, he is good, the same for Sidiki. They are good young attackers. Now it’s up to them to be strong and annoy the coach so that one of the two starts.
Foot Mercato: in June 2023 you made your debut with the Algerian selection against Uganda, how did you experience this moment?
HA : it was an immense source of pride. I thought about my grandparents, my father, my family. When you start the starting match, all you want to do is give it your all and win. Plus for the little anecdote, my first selection was a double pivot with Haris Belkebla, who is today my friend and teammate at Angers.
Foot Mercato: have you always wanted to represent Algeria?
HA : I would have to summon my childhood friends so that they could say it. But I have always talked about Algeria. No one could tell me “you’re going to go, I don’t know where, to the French team”. Even if I know that as of today, I will not be in the French team. Every time I went to my grandparents, they talked to me about it, because I was with my brother, I played football. My grandfather told me to play for Algeria, I remember we watched the matches on Canal Algérie. It started from my grandfather, this love for this country. I always told myself that I was going to make my grandparents proud. Besides, the last match in Tizi Ouzou that I played with Algeria, my grandfather came with my father.
Foot Mercato: how can you describe the passion of the Algerian people?
HA : I went to play in Algeria, in Annaba and the atmosphere, I had never seen that. It was the first time in my life that I saw such an atmosphere. And yet I made it to stadiums. It’s impossible to describe.
“With Algeria, I will take my chance to the fullest as I have always done”
Foot Mercato: with your club performances, have you always kept the hope of returning to the selection?
HA : even though I was hurt, I had hope. I looked at the list, I said to myself, well, you never know. Now I have the opportunity to return to the national team. I will take my chance to the fullest as I have always done because for me, the national team is above everything.
Foot Mercato: do you think Algeria can win this CAN 2025?
HA : as an Algerian, I will tell you, In Shaa Allah, we win. Afterwards, it’s certain when you see, the last two CAN, we went out in the groups, it was hard. I think there has been change, something new. We will perhaps shock more than one selection because now, people expect us to come out in groups, it is up to us to shock them. I think that in Morocco, we have every chance, because the facilities will be good, the pitches will be good.
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– UPDATE
