I am a lion; not a bad guy – Senegalese football legend, Diouf

Senegalese football legend, El Hadji Diouf, has said that although he developed a reputation as a bad boy of football during his active days, he believes the media was unfair to him.

In England, he is remembered more for his controversial antics than for his football talent.

It is a trait that followed him in the English league clubs he played for – from Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers to Bolton Wanderers, with a spell for Rangers in Scotland as well.

Diouf was aggressive, spat at opponents and confronted match officials as well as opponents.

Now in retirement, he told BBC Sports his story.

He said: “I am a lion, I am a bad loser and it’s not wrong to be a bad loser,” says Diouf of his often combative mood during his playing days.

“I have got character and I want people to respect me.”

Diouf, who has now permanently moved back to the Senegalese capital, Dakar,said he was often misunderstood during his playing days in England.

“I am an easy target. It’s easy to talk about El Hadji Diouf and I let them talk but I know in my heart I am a good guy. My family knows, my population knows, my continent knows I am a good guy and that’s the best thing. The rest is not my problem.”

Despite this defence, Diouf admits he has done some bad things. When asked why, for example, he used to spit at opponents, he said: “Maybe they used to tell me something I didn’t want to hear. I did that, I paid and now it’s finished.”

Diouf is currently working back at home in Senegal as a government goodwill ambassador. He is President Macky Sall’s adviser on sport as well as running his own sports newspaper business in Dakar.

“My life is about sport but the government cannot do everything alone, they need help from people like me. The president believes in me and that’s why when I finished playing football, he called me and told me he wants me to help because the young generation believe in me. I am an example to them,” said Diouf.

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Asked if he will consider a role in politics, Diouf said at the moment, he is concentrating on helping to develop his country – but cannot rule out the prospect of entering politics in future.

“I am interested because we have to make things change. People like me can make things change.

“We have a country to build, a continent to build and why not be involved in politics tomorrow?”

Twice presented with the African Footballer of the Year award by the Confederation of African football (Caf), Diouf was part of the 2002 trailblazing Senegalese side which reached the last eight at the 2002 World Cup, beating defending champions France along the way.

He describes that period as the greatest achievement of his career.

“We put Senegal on the world map. Before the World Cup nobody knew Senegal, but after the World Cup everybody wanted to know where Senegal was. What Maradona did for his country (Argentina) is what I did for Senegal. I was one of the biggest men at the 2002 World Cup.

“We were colonised by France, most of the businesses are run by French people here and to beat them was a big thing for us.

“Before the game, they used to say: ‘The French reserve team is going to play against the Senegalese first team’ – because most of the players used to play in the French league. I used to be in Lens, Salif Diao (Sedan), Khalilou Fadiga (Auxerre), most of the players played in the French league but we used to say: ‘Be careful before you kill the lion.'”

Diouf said he would like to do more to help develop football on the African continent, but feels structural changes need to take place.

“Fifa has changed and now it’s time for African football federations to change too,” he said.