Tuesday 10 January 2017 22:09, UK
Leicester wing wizard Riyad Mahrez is aiming to conquer a continent with Algeria at the Africa Cup of Nations. Adam Bate met the African player of the year and discovered why he's doing it all for his dad...
Most eyes were on Euro 2016 last summer and Leicester were well represented. Jamie Vardy got a taste of the pressure of playing for England and N'Golo Kante endured the agony of France losing the final as hosts. Wales' Andy King had fun. Austria's Christian Fuchs not so much.
Over in Algeria, the scrutiny on Riyad Mahrez wasn't on quite such a global scale. But it was far more intimate and, in a curious way, the attention was perhaps even more intense. The Leicester winger was making his regular return to the family village.
Mahrez's late father Ahmed was from Beni Snous, a commune in north-west Algeria not too far from the Moroccan border. He emigrated from home but would still return to play football for the local team. Ahmed died at the age of 54 of a heart condition.
His son was 15 at the time and what's striking is how the player has embraced Algeria so wholeheartedly, his determination fortified by personal tragedy. As the land of his father, the country is part of his history but Mahrez has made it his present and future too.
He grew up on the outskirts of Paris in the suburb of Sarcelles. His skills were honed there in the amateur leagues of the French capital but Mahrez's heart is in Algeria and specifically the village where he'd holiday as a youngster, playing football with his cousins.
Speaking to him in the cold of one of the dugouts at the top pitch on Leicester's training ground, he has only warmth for the people and his memories. But he also acknowledges that while Mahrez the winger has become trickier, so have those trips back to Algeria.
"I used to go on holiday to see my family there and I still go," he says. "I was there in June last year. But it's different now because I have to hide. It's difficult. They come to my house when I'm there. At my aunt's house and my uncle's house there are these big queues."
Showered with gifts and kisses upon his arrival, even his departure from Messali Hadj Tlemcen airport made the news. There are the microphones, the film crews, the interviews and the Leicester shirts. "I have to do pictures, pictures and more pictures," he explains.
"But it's normal for them because they love me and want to see me." Mahrez is determined to be normal too. He's played in an impromptu five-a-side game. He was there for Ramadan and impressed locals with his humility, even sleeping on the floor. But it's not normal.
"Some people come from 400 or 500 miles away and say, 'Please, I just want a picture!' I am from there so you have to do it. It's not good [to say no] otherwise they came for nothing. But there are a lot of people. You can't please everyone, you know what I mean?
"You can't please 5,000 or 10,000 people."
And yet, this month in Gabon, Mahrez will try to please rather more people than that. Algeria, a country with a population of more than 40 million, will hope he can inspire a first ever Africa Cup of Nations win on foreign soil.
There is a feeling that the country finally has the players to do it too. Mahrez's Leicester team-mate Islam Slimani is a formidable goalscorer, while Porto's Yacine Brahimi is a supremely gifted dribbler to rival anyone in the game with the ball at his feet.
As well as the usual array of French league stars, there are also representatives from La Liga, Serie A and elsewhere in Europe. But if this Algeria team are to see off Ivory Coast and the rest, they will need Mahrez to fire.
The first task is to top a group that includes Senegal, Tunisia and Zimbabwe. "It's a difficult group for us," says Mahrez. "In Africa there are a lot of good teams so we knew we'd have a big group. It's OK, we have to deal with it."
It's not the only thing he must deal with. "It's difficult to have the Africa Cup of Nations during the season because you focus on the league and then you go to Africa, then straightaway you come back and have to refocus in the league," he says.
"The weather in Africa is not the same either. It's all about adapting, but we're footballers and we have to do that." The feeling that Mahrez has to do it is self-imposed. But it's a discipline that's been instilled in him.
So when he steps onto the pitch in Gabon, it wouldn't be a surprise if his thoughts turn to the village of Beni Snous. "My dad is buried there in the cemetery," he says. "So I go and see him as well. It would be good for my dad… He wanted me to play for Algeria."
