Adopo with “L’Unione Sarda”

‘When I was offered the idea of coming to play here in Sardinia, I immediately asked to speak to the sporting director, the president, and the coach. Cagliari could represent the turning point in my career: I have the chance to play with continuity, I have the feeling that we are gradually growing together’. Michel Ndary Adopo has released an exclusive interview with the newspaper ‘L’Unione Sarda’, on newsstands today: the midfielder, born in 2000, who arrived in red and blue last summer, talked about himself between anecdotes and curiosities, football and family.

ORIGINS
‘My mother, Anna, was born in Senegal; my father, Choangai, in the Ivory Coast. They met and fell in love in the United States, attending the same university. Together they moved to France, to Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, near Paris, where they now work as software engineers. I was born in France, but from an early age we used to go at least a month on holiday to Senegal and the Ivory Coast. Every year we alternated. So I am French, but I also feel a bit Ivorian and Senegalese. The national team? It’s a good family fight: my mother pushes for Senegal, my father for the Ivory Coast. So as not to wrong anyone I said: ‘I accept the first one who calls me. So I leave the choice to fate’.

NEVER GIVE UP
‘Something that made me grow up faster? I was 13 when I broke my ACL. I was out for a year and a half and when I started training again, I didn’t even know how to make a pass, a stop. I thought I had to give up football, my father and mother convinced me not to give up. And now, thanks to them, I am here’.

IN THE RIGHT PLACE AND AT THE RIGHT TIME
‘I had been following coach Nicola since he coached Torino, but that year I was on loan at Viterbese. I always watched their matches and I liked the identity he wanted to give, the intensity, the principle of always being hungry. Today I feel in the right place, at the right time. I have the trust of the coach and the club, I’ve arrived at an important club that has had important players: I wasn’t lucky enough to see Gigi Riva, Barella was. Even the day I arrived, I didn’t expect all those fans at the airport, I immediately sensed a positive air’.

TEAM MATES
‘Viola, among the teammates I didn’t know, was the one who impressed me the most. I still remember the first training session, I watch two or three touches he gives the ball and I say ‘oops, this one is really strong’. I’ve bonded a lot with Makoumbou: he’s also French, we’re on the same page, we joke a lot and always look for positivity. On the pitch he knows that when he goes, I’m there to take his place and have his back’.

POSITION
‘My role? I prefer to play as a holding midfielder, so in a three-man midfield, but also in a two-man midfield we can run the team well. It depends on the type of match and how the coach prepares it. Today more than ever the midfielder must be able to do everything, defending and attacking. Today you must also be able to make assists and score goals. I would like to find my first goal in A, I’m working on it. If I score I will exult by doing a little dance. Or maybe I’ll celebrate it Steph Curry style, my favourite player in the NBA.

MISTAKES AND GROWTH
‘The Olimpico expulsion? I wasn’t lucid enough, I’m sorry. In certain situations only the captain has to speak, but I was angry. I had doubts about the penalty, I didn’t even understand the double caution for Yerry. I made a mistake and had to miss the match against Milan. But from the Tribune I saw a great Cagliari side, who were not afraid of their opponent’s name and faced them openly. We must try to take as many points as possible from every game, starting with the next one against Genoa.’