Pape Diakhaté is now back in training with the first team squad after a lengthy recovery. Although swept with bitter injury memories, the Senegalese was happy to talk to www.fcdynamo.kiev.ua about the time he had to stay away from football.
- How is your health? How did your surgery go?
- I am doing just great! I am happy to be back in training. I will soon be able to play as well. The doctors suggest I should not be in a rush and take my time. I had a surgery in Belgium on November 15 last year. Thus, in a few days, I will have been out of football for three months.
- Having your family next to you must have helped…
- Absolutely. It is vital for me that my family, my wife and child in the first line, are there for me in the moments like this. Also, I got a chance to go to Senegal to see my parents and all my brothers and sisters. All this helps enormously.
- Did you follow Dynamo games at the Channel One Cup?
- I wish I had, but I did not get the chance to do so. Yet I had been staying in touch with my team mates all the time and got to know everything about their accomplishments.
- At the African Nations Cup, your national team succumbed to Angola, which was quite a surprise…
- Talking about my national team is not easy. Sidelined with an injury, I could not participate in the tournament. It was extremely difficult to watch my team mates on TV, especially that they were losing. Nevertheless, Senegal is a great football country. As 2010 World Cup qualifications kick off in June, we will channel all our efforts to be through to the finals.
- Now that the coach has chosen Yussuf and Mykhalyk to play central defense, the competition for the position may get tougher.
- I have never been afraid of competition. Besides, it is not competition as such since we play for one club and have a common goal. All I have to do is to do my job well.
