Djibril Cissé: Difference between revisions

Djibril Cissé

Personal information
Full name	Djibril Aruun Cissé
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Centre Forward
Team information
Current team	Olympique Marseille (on loan from Liverpool)
Number	9
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 28 August2006

Djibril Aruun Cissé (born 12 August 1981 in Arles, France) is a French international football player of Ivorian descent who plays as a striker for both France and Olympique Marseille (on loan from Liverpool). He is noted particularly for his speed and acceleration, as well as his often eye-catching hairstyles.

Career

AJ Auxerre

Cissé signed for the French club AJ Auxerre at the age of 15, and made his international debut, aged 21, against Belgium in May 2002. He won the French Cup with Auxerre in May 2003, and the Confederations Cup with France a month later.

Cissé was also the top scorer in the French Ligue 1 in the 2001-02 and 2003-04 seasons. He scored 70 goals in 128 league games for Auxerre before signing for Liverpool in a deal worth over £14 million. Liverpool had pursued Cissé for a long time, and it was an open secret that the then Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier admired Cissé's qualities.

Liverpool

At Liverpool, Cissé scored 5 goals in 23 first-team games in all competitions for Liverpool in the 2004-05 season. He had only played 19 games for Liverpool when he broke his left leg playing against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on October 30 2004. The injury was not a result of a tackle as was initially thought, but rather from an awkward fall as his foot appeared to be caught in the turf.

Cissé later revealed that had it not been for prompt attention from the trainers at the stadium (who had to pull his bones back into place with their hands), he would probably have lost the leg below the knee. He had pins inserted in the leg, and was expected to be out of action for the rest of the 2004-05 season. However, it was reported in late March 2005 that Cissé's recovery had advanced enough to enable him to return to action by the end of the season.

This indeed happened on April 13, when Cissé came on as a substitute in the 75th minute of the second leg of Liverpool's Champions League quarter-final tie with Juventus. He went on to score both Liverpool goals in their last Premiership match of the season, a 2-1 win over Aston Villa, and also converted one of the penalties in Liverpool's penalty shootout win over AC Milan in the Champions League final.

During the 2005-06 season, new Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez deployed Cissé on the right wing on numerous occasions. While his remarkable pace made him well suited to such a role, it was questioned whether he would be happy continuing to be used in this way rather than in his preferred position as striker.

Olympique Marseille

From he summer of 2005, the media had linked Cissé with a move away from Anfield. This speculation intensified over the course of the season due to the lack of starting appearances. On July 2, 2006, Cissé claimed on Sky Sports that Benitez was forcing him out of the club.^[1] He has now joined Olympique Marseille on a season-long loan for the 2006-07 season.^[2]

On 20 October, 2006 Cissé made a return to training^[3]. On 6 December he made his debut for Olympique Marseille, scoring in a friendly match against Martigues^[4]. On 22 December Cissé scored his first goal of the 2006/7 season, when Olympique Marseille beat St Etienne 2-1^[5]. However, with only four goals in 14 apperances, in April 2007 Jean-Pierre Papin urged Cisse's critis to be more patient while the striker recovered from his career threatening injury^[6].

World Cup 2006

Cissé was included in the French squad for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. However, in France's final warm up match against China on 7 June he suffered a broken right leg. Ten minutes into the game he was knocked off balance by the Chinese captain Zheng Zhi and fell with his right leg twisting under him, buckling above the ankle. "He screamed in horrific pain," said Thierry Henry. "I was right next to him when it happened." Immediate surgery to repair his open fractured tibia followed, ruling him out of the tournament.

Earlier in the day, it had been reported that a transfer to Olympique de Marseille had been agreed.^[7] It had been thought that, even though a relatively quick recovery was expected,^[8] his transfer would be postponed until, at least, the January transfer window.^[9] However, these fears proved foundless, and the loan deal went ahead as expected in July 2006.

Personal life

After his move to Liverpool F.C., Cisse purchased a substantial home in Frodsham, Cheshire, and in doing so gained the title of Lord of the Manor of Frodsham. Soon after buying the home, his decision to refuse the Cheshire Forest Hunt permission to hunt on his land received substantial press coverage.^[10]

In June 2005, Djibril Cissé married Jude Littler, a Welsh hairdresser from Anglesey. The wedding took place at Bodelwyddan Castle, with notable guests including Cissé's French national teammates, Louis Saha, Thierry Henry, Sylvain Wiltord and Zinedine Zidane. Chelsea's winger Shaun Wright-Phillips was also in attendance. Cissé married in a tuxedo in the red of Liverpool. In October 2005, the couple announced they were expecting their first child. On 7 March 2006, Jude gave birth to a son named Cassius. Cissé also has a daughter named Ilona who was born in 2001.

In October 2005, he accepted a caution from the police for hitting a 15-year-old boy while filming an advert in Docklands, East London.

Statistics

Table last updated 14 January 2006.

Career Honours

AJ Auxerre

Winner

• 2002–03 French Cup

Runner Up

• 2003–04 French Super Cup

Liverpool F.C.

Winner

• 2004–05 UEFA Champions League
• 2005–06 European Super Cup
• 2005–06 FA Cup

Runner Up

• 2005 FIFA Club World Championship

France

Winner

• 2003 Confederations Cup

References

External links

• Official site (in French and English)
• Profile at Liverpool official site
• FootballDatabase provides Djibril Cissé's profile and stats