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Bobo Baldé

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Bobo Baldé
Personal information
Full name Dianbobo Baldé
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Centre Back
Team information
Current team
 Celtic
Number 6
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12:00, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

Dianbobo "Bobo" Baldé (born 5 October, 1975 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône) is a French born Guinean professional footballer currently playing for Celtic of the Scottish Premier League. He is a central defender and sweeper. He is also a Guinean international and is currently one of Celtic's longest serving players having been at the club for over 7 years, making him the most loyal of the current Celtic team.

During his time at Celtic he has so far won three League Titles (2001-02, 2003-04, 2005-06 - he did not make enough league appearances to qualify for a winner's medal in 2006-07 or 2007-08) three Scottish Cups (2004, 2005, 2007) and one Scottish League Cup (2005-06) and was part of the Celtic squad which made it to the 2003 UEFA Cup Final.

Club career

Early career (1995-2001)

Baldé started his career in 1995 at centre back for Marseille, where he stayed until 1997 but could not make the first-team breakthrough, so he had to leave his hometown club to join second division outfit FC Mulhouse for the 1997-98 season, staying only that year. When Mulhouse were relegated he joined AS Cannes on loan in 1998 where he had little success, in the league making 29 appearances and scoring 4 goals.[1] He left Marseille, moving to Toulouse, whom he helped to promotion during the 1999-00 season. In total he made 52 appearances for Toulouse and scoring 1 goal.[2]

Celtic career (2001-current)

Baldé signed for Celtic on 21 July, 2001[3] and has become a regular player in Celtic's defence. Balde is currently in his 7th season at Celtic and has made 232 appearances (1 as a sub) and has scored 16 goals for the club.[4]

He made his debut on 8 September in a 3–1 win at home to Dunfermline Athletic[5]. 4 SPL games later he scored his first Celtic goal on 20 October 2001 against Dundee United at Celtic Park. In that entire season Baldé scored a total of 6 goals including one in the Scottish Cup final against Rangers when the big defender rose above Lorenzo Amoruso to power home a Neil Lennon free kick into the net from six yards, on the 50th minute. Celtic lost that game 3–2.[6].

Baldé scored his first goal of the 2002–03 season on 1 September 2002 against Livingston. He was booked in the first Old Firm game of the season which ended 3–3 but at the end of the season Baldé was subsequently voted the Celtic Player of The Year for 2003 by the Celtic fans in which 40,000[7] Celtic fans voted. He was the inaugural winner of that award. In his acceptance speech he paid tribute to his team mates and manger Martin O'Neill. Speaking just after winning the award, Baldé said "It means a lot to win this award. Its good to know the fans are behind you and they are happy with what you do for them". He also won the Player of The Month Award for April[8]. He played in 12 of Celtic's 13 UEFA Cup games in that season, where Celtic got to the final. In the final they played against FC Porto at the Olympic Stadium in Seville. During the final, Balde was sent off in the 95th minute[9] after picking up his second booking. Celtic lost that final 3-2 with Henrik Larsson getting both of Celtic's goals.

In the 2003-04 season, Baldé achieved a moderate start, his first goal coming against Dundee in the fifth SPL game of the season. In the next game, he received a red card in the 70th minute. He played solidly throughout that season only receiving seven yellow cards and one red card. He scored two goals that season, both against Dundee. At the end of the season, Baldé added a League Championship and a Scottish Cup medal to his collection.

Baldé started the 2004–05 season well with only one yellow card in the first six games of the season (all competitions) and a goal in the 38th minute[10] in the 8-1 thrashing of Falkirk in the first League Cup game of the season. Within his first ten games of the season, he had only received two yellow cards and performed well in the league but not well in Europe losing the first three games of the season. His next big thing that season was scoring 2 goals in a 3–0 win at home to Dundee on 2 March, 2005. At the end of that season he added a Scottish Cup medal to his tally after Celtic beat Dundee United 1–0 in the final.

His fifth season and first season under new manager Gordon Strachan got off to a bad start. In the first game Celtic lost 5-0 to Artmedia Bratislava in a Champions League qualifier with Balde getting booked. In the second leg Celtic won 4-0 and went out on aggregate. Balde got booked in both legs of the tie. He received seven yellow cards and scored one goal in that season and won the League Cup and the Scottish Premier League, before taking time out to recover from his abdominal injury.

Balde missed the start of the 2006-07 season after discovering he required surgery for a persistent stomach muscle problem. He returned to the first team in November, only to suffer a broken leg in a match on Boxing Day. The Guinea international was carried off in the first half during the 2-2 draw with Dundee United. He would be ruled out for several months. [11]

In July before the start of the new season, Roy Keane, manager of Sunderland, showed interest in Balde. Keane was reported to have made a £1.5m offer for his former Celtic team-mate. "I love the club, I am very settled in Glasgow and I would be happy to fulfil my current contract", said Balde. [12]

Balde made his first start of the 2007/08 season on the 26 December 2007 exactly a year after his last appearance, in a 2-0 away win to Dundee United. His presence also helped Celtic to their first away clean sheet in almost 15 months. [13]He was also awarded Man Of The Match for his brilliant display.

Balde was back in the first team squad, but not in the starting 11 against Rangers on 29 March, for the first time since Christmas after recovering from the injury he sustained at the African Nations Cup. He then started a few days later replacing the suspended Gary Caldwell to make his first appearance since December 2007, with a man of the match performance in the 1-0 win over Aberdeen in the SPL, Georgios Samaras scored the only goal of the game.[14]

At the start of the 2008-09 season it was announced that Balde would be allowed to leave Celtic on a free transfer provided that he could find a club that would meet his salary demands. Wolves manager Mick McCarthy says he is still keen on Celtic centre-half Bobo Balde although cannot meet his wage demands.[15] same for ipswich town FC and Jim magilton

In the pre-season matches before the 2008-09 season Balde has played his part in some of the matches so far playing the last 13 minutes[16] against Southampton, the last 30 minutes[17] against Middlesbrough in the Algarve Challenge Cup. He made his full match debut in Celtic's second Algarve Challenge Cup match against Cardiff City in witch was the first meeting of the two teams in 81 years.[18] He also took part in Celtic's 1-0 pre-season friendly win over Porto in which he played the last 22 minutes.[19]

International career

Born in Marseille, Balde was called up by Guinea for the 2002 African Cup of Nations. He was part of their 2004 African Nations Cup team, who finished second in their group in the first round of competition, before losing in the quarter finals to Mali, and was a regular in 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying. With Balde on board, Guinea have also made it to the last eight in the 2004, 2006 and 2008 African Cup of Nations.

Career stats

(correct as of 19 April 2008)

Club Season League Cup Europe Total
Apps Goals Assists Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Olympique Marseille
1995-96 0 0 ? 0 0 0 0 0 0
1996-97 0 0 ? 0 0 0 0 0 0
FC Mulhouse
1997-98 33 1 ? 0 0 0 0 33 1
AS Cannes
1998-99 29 4 ? 0 0 0 0 29 4
Toulouse
1999-00 28 0 ? 0 0 0 0 28 0
2000-01 24 1 ? 0 0 0 0 24 1
Celtic
2001-02 21 2 ? 8 4 8 0 38 6
2002-03 36 2 ? 3 2 14 0 53 4
2003-04 31 2 ? 5 0 14 0 49 2
2004-05 34 2 ? 7 1 5 0 46 3
2005-06 28 1 ? 3 0 2 0 33 1
2006-07 6 0 ? 2 0 2 0 10 0
2007-08 4 0 ? 0 0 0 0 4 0
2008-09 0 0 ? 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 230(1 as sub) 15 ? 28 7 45 0 347 22

Honours

Club

Toulouse
  • Winners
    • Promotion to Ligue 1 - 1999-00
Celtic

International

Guinea

Individual

References

  1. ^ ..::National Football Teams::.. Player - Dianbobo Balde
  2. ^ BALDÉ (Dianbobo Baldé) - Celtic and Guinea
  3. ^ Soccerbase.com Profile - Bobo Balde
  4. ^ Celticfc.net Profile - Bobo Balde
  5. ^ Bobo Balde - Celtic FC - Sporting Heroes.net
  6. ^ Rangers win Old Firm final
  7. ^ The Official Celtic Football Club Annual 2004 - pg. 34
  8. ^ Balde wins April award
  9. ^ Porto end Celtic's Uefa dream
  10. ^ BBC SPORT | Football | Other Scottish | Celtic 8-1 Falkirk
  11. ^ Celtic's Balde suffers broken leg
  12. ^ Balde not tempted by Sunderland
  13. ^ Dundee United 0-2 Celtic
  14. ^ Celtic 1-0 Aberdeen
  15. ^ Balde salary hinders Wolves move
  16. ^ Southampton v Celtic: Live Minute by Minute
  17. ^ Minute by Minute:Celtic v Middlesbrough
  18. ^ Celtic v Cardiff City: Match Report
  19. ^ Minute by Minute: FC Porto v Celtic
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