Bacary sagna (official post)

3. ARSENAL

Bacary Sagna (born 14 February 1983 in Sens) is a French international football defender ofSenegalese descent, who is currently playing his club football as a right-back for BarclaysPremier League club, Arsenal. His cousin Ibrahima Sonko also plays in England, for Hull City. Since signing for the Gunners back in July 2007 he has made 90 premier league appearances scoring one goal, and he has also featured in 121 matches with 1 goal in all competitions in total. Sagna is called Bac by the majority of his teammates both at Arsenal and France

Club career
Auxerre

Sagna started his career at FC Sens. Sagna made 87 Ligue 1 appearances for Auxerre and was part of the squad that won the French Cup in 2005. He also played in the UEFA Cup in each of his three seasons with the club's first team, making a total of 17 appearances in the competition. He was also voted into the Ligue 1 team of the season for his outstanding displays at the right back position.

Arsenal
2007–08 season

On 12 July 2007, Sagna completed a move to Arsenal from Auxerre for an undisclosed fee, thought to have been an initial €9 million that could rise to €11 million. He wears the number 3 shirt, most recently worn for Arsenal by former defender Ashley Cole.

Sagna made his debut for Arsenal on 19 July 2007 as a starter in the squad that beat Turkish clubGenclerbirligi 3–0 in a friendly at Austria's Bad Waltersdorf Stadion.

On 13 February 2008, exactly one week before Arsenal were set to play the second leg of their 4th round encounter against AC Milan in the Champions League Sagna's older brother, Omar Sagna died at the age of 28, the day before his birthday. Bacary did however play the match after he was advised to by his father. Arsenal went on to win the second leg 0-2 with the same scoreline on aggregate.

On 23 March 2008, Sagna tallied his first Premier League goal off a header from a corner kick to give Arsenal a 1-0 lead against rivals Chelsea F.C. However, he went off injured before Chelsea came back to win the game 2-1.[8] At the end of the season, he was named in the PFA's Team of the Year.

2008–09 season

Sagna signed a new deal with Arsenal before the start of the 2008–09 season. Arsenal have signed him for a further two years, taking his contract up to 2014. Sagna stated. "I love Arsenal, it's a great club", and further added, "The manager is also very good and next season we will be fighting for all the trophies."

International career

U-21

Sagna has previously represented the French under-21 team, with whom he also participated at the 2006 European Under-21 Championship.

Senior

He received his first senior international cap for France on 22 August 2007 in a friendly match against Slovakia on the road, which they won 1–0, coming on as a substitute for François Clerc after one hour of play. He went on to make his competitive debut for France in their 6–0 away win at the Faroe Islands on 13 October 2007 in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers, playing all 90 minutes. It was his only appearance in the Euro 2008 qualifying. He was not a candidate to join the French team at the Euro 2008 finals in Austria and Switzerland as he was still recovering from the injury sustained in Arsenal's Premier League match at Chelsea in March 2008.

After recovering from the injury, Sagna returned to the French national team for their friendly match against Sweden in August 2008, playing all 90 minutes in a 3-2 away win for France. He went on to become a regular in the French team's qualifying campaign for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, so far starting all of their five matches in the competition.

Sagna - Barca will go all the way again

Bacary Sagna predicts Barcelona will reach the Champions League Final again this year.

The French defender saw his Arsenal side well beaten at the Nou Camp on Tuesday night and afterwards paid due credit to Pep Guardiola's impressive outfit. He told TV Online that the holders would reach the showpiece game in Madrid this term.

"It think they are one of the best teams I have ever played against," he said.  "Tonight they showed they are top class. I think they will go to the Final."

Subscribers can now see the full interview on TV Online. In it Sagna also discussed:

• the magic of Messi
• scoring so early
• the lasting effects of the defeat on Arsenal
• the title race
• whether defeat could help Arsenal's chances