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Kalidou Koulibaly uses team-mate as a human wrecking ball to defend against Kylian Mbappe

A unique method of defending to say the least

Kalidou Koulibaly is a monster.

Napoli’s hulking centre-back is one of the most highly-rated centre-backs in Europe.

A capable ball-player, he suits the Serie A club’s possession-based philosophy while sacrificing nothing in terms of physicality at the back.

Solid

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Solid

And last night, during Napoli’s 2-2 draw with PSG at the Parc des Princes, he showed us the lengths he’s willing to go to defend.

Here he is using team-mate Mario Rui as a human wrecking ball…

Koulibaly was clearly not impressed with the Portuguese full-back’s reluctance to press Kylian Mbappe.

Nothing a helping hand didn’t fix.

It’s actually a brilliant piece of defending — Mbappe may have had room to dribble into the box were it for the Senegalese defender using Faria as a projectile.

And the French teenager ended up giving away possession because of the pressure exerted by Faria/Koulibaly.

That’s one way of stopping him

Getty - Contributor
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That’s one way of stopping him

There’s no room for niceties or politeness when it comes to defending.

Stop the opposition by any means necessary, even if it means tossing your team-mate around like a rag doll.

We salute you, Kalidou Koulibaly, a proper defender if ever there was one.


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