This summer, DZfoot offers you a series of articles specially dedicated to the Greens of the world. This time, it’s Aïssa Mandi’s turn to be the focus of all the attention.
He has been there for so long that we forget that he is only 30 years old and still has many good years ahead of him. With 76 matches played in selection, he is probably the most likely to beat Lakhdar Belloumi’s record (97) and reach the symbolic bar of a hundred caps.
So far in constant progress, both in club and selection, Aïssa Mandi remains a discreet player on and off the field. Apart from beautiful detents on a set piece which sometimes turn into a goal, he is not particularly distinguished by angry tackles or marking with his pants. What has always been his strength is his good reading of the game, his sense of anticipation and his good recovery. He’s become the only indisputable rear guard over the years…so far.
A pattern of regularity
His club career comes down to just three teams, proof of the seriousness of the character. Mandi began playing at home, in Reims, at the age of 8 and naturally progressed through the stages until signing professional in a legendary club (double finalist in the Champions League) then on the rise. He started as a senior in National (3rd division), just following obtaining his baccalaureate, before fully participating in the rise in Ligue 1 of the Champagne club. He will immediately follow four full seasons at the highest level of French football.
After having helped out for a long time as a left back, but especially as a right back, the slender (1m86) defender will have to wait for his last season with Reims to settle in the axis of the defense. It was also at the end of 2013 and then the beginning of 2014 that he discovered the Greens as a right-back while Madjid Bougherra was still the boss.
His very good performances and his irreproachable behavior immediately caught the eye of a Vahid Halilodzic keen on this player profile. At 22, Mandi is playing in a World Cup and if he stays on the bench once morest Belgium, he starts once morest South Korea, never to leave the National Team once more.
Aged 24, now clearly right central in a two-man hinge or right piston in a three-man defense, Mandi discovers scoring talents (11 in two Ligue 1 seasons) and, following also playing in a CAN, becomes too big for a Stade de Reims which falls once more in Ligue 2.
A time announced at AS Saint-Etienne or Olympique Lyonnais, it is in another club with green colors that he will sign in 2016. Real Betis, second club of the city of Seville, where the native from Châlons-en-Champagne will discover the pressure of the top European level.
In a Spanish Liga championship which is vying for the title of best league in the world alongside the English first division, Mandi rubs shoulders with the cream of the round ball. His coach at the time, Gustavo Poyet, will start him in his first match at Camp Nou. The discovery will be smooth for Mandi who will experience a complicated season alongside his club, which will suffer heavy defeats by six buses once morest Barça and Real Madrid.
He has always known how to go through the stages, but at his own pace
The following season will be more convincing since Bétis finishes in 6th place in the standings and qualifies for the Europa League. Aïssa Mandi, at ease in Spanish and well adapted to his new club, will clearly cross a threshold and will distinguish himself twice once morest Real Madrid. Under the orders of Quique Setien, who will later try to attract him when he arrives at Barça, the Algerian will progress, a lot. Alongside Marc Bartra or Zouhir Feddal, he is finally beginning to attract the attention of more upscale clubs, particularly in Italy, his talent and consistency making him a man many would like to rely on.
In selection Georges Leekens made him his captain during the catastrophic CAN 2017 where he had to fill the gaps of a losing team alongside Bensebaini in particular in the axis. He will then sometimes be replaced as left back by Lucas Alcaraz or Rabah Madjer, preferring Hassani or Chafai to him. even Belmadi in his debut made him play as a full-back.
In 2018-2019, at the age of 27, he played his first European competition, with in particular a double confrontation once morest AC Milan in the Europa League, but the departure of Sétien was not going to be successful for players who had a very average season, finishing second. part of table. Mandi, meanwhile, floats in a Bétis still as irregular.
In the summer of 2019, he won the African Cup of Nations as a right axis in a hinge that he composed with Djamel Benlamri. Finding colors following being carried around in different positions, he who had sometimes even been questioned of dismissing him as he did not seem at ease as a right side, Mandi literally explodes and forms an iron defense which will only concede three goals in seven games. He who knew how to be the man of confidence of all the breeders, here he is also an indisputable holder in the eyes of Djamel Belmadi, who asked this discreet character to be violent.
Finding colors once more
Mandi is then at the top. In club, now under the orders of Manuel Pellegrini, he became vice-captain and was called upon by many big clubs. Sevilla FC, Olympique de Marseille, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, Liverpool and Inter Milan are all interested in the player who is patiently coming to the end of his contract.
He will eventually do what he felt was the safe choice by joining Villarreal, recent Europa League winners and therefore Champions League qualifiers. Ardently desired by Unai Emery, he thus opts for a destination supposed to allow him to discover, at 29, the C1, while ensuring him playing time that he would probably not have had in Milan, Madrid or Liverpool.
However, from his debut in the European Super Cup once morest Chelsea, the status of Mandi questions. Substitute, he only goes into extra time, as a right side, and to keep a score that his team will eventually let go. This final, lost by Villarreal therefore, perfectly illustrates Mandi’s season: behind Raúl Albiol (36 years old), Mandi will only play… 24 minutes in the beautiful course of his people in LDC, and will only be entitled to fourteen La Liga starts. This is not, however, what will allow his people to shine since Villarreal will finish in a sad 7th place which only allows him to play in the simple Europa League Conference play-offs.
A disappointing season for two titles for Mandi who, like his teammates in the selection, will miss an African Cup of Nations in Cameroon and then a second World Cup following elimination in the play-off.
At almost 31 years old, Aïssa Mandi does not want to wait any longer but with Raul Albiol who does not intend to retire, the Algerian must already work hard to find a starting place in Villarreal … or elsewhere .
DZfoot