Koita, an extraordinary mineral
Born in Senegal and raised in Antwerp, the AEK winger is the first Mauritanian ever to score against Real Madrid.
Champions League nights let us discover unknown minerals buried in Europe's minor leagues. Greece is not one of those places the clubs of the big five leagues look at. But what if the paradigm shifts in the coming years? What if we had the means to reach the far corners of the peninsulas and their borders?
This Wednesday, AEK Athens showed that their club project is built on a striking technical and footballing strategy and an attractive, elegant spine of players. Among all those minerals we found one that shone above the rest tonight. And despite the 2-3 defeat to Real Madrid, for many Aboubakary Koita may well have been the MVP of the evening.
Koita was born in 1998 in Pikine, on the outskirts of Dakar, and grew up in Antwerp. Nobody handed him anything: he started in Belgium's third tier with Geel, barely played at Ghent and fought his way through Kortrijk and Waasland-Beveren until he exploded at Sint-Truiden, with 15 goals in 2023-24.
Nobody handed him anything
That summer he said where he saw himself: in “the Bundesliga or La Liga”. Athens called instead. AEK paid four million euros and signed him until 2029. Two years later, La Liga comes to see him: Real Madrid land in Athens.
He could have played for Senegal, Mali or Belgium, but in 2023 he chose Mauritania, his father's homeland. With the Mourabitounes he played the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations, and this season he already has two goals for them.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote in 1943 that “what makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well”. In a world of ever more physical players and a shortage of fine, detailed talent, we find Koita. Because, as Alberto Edjogo says in Indomable: in the most arid ground, the most fragrant flowers bloom.
And then comes that date with destiny the footballer had been waiting for for years. A magnificent performance under the lights of the Allwyn Arena. A game every footballer would want to play. Tonight Koita introduced himself to the world as someone different.
In the 12th minute he takes Jović's pass and opens the scoring: no Mauritanian footballer had ever scored against Real Madrid. Then he drives Cucurella to despair in every move: he challenges him, provokes him, runs at him again and again. He attempts eleven dribbles, contests 22 duels and wins three fouls; Madrid's full-back commits five, is booked in the 65th minute and is substituted in the 81st. In the 75th, Koita serves up the 2-1 for Pilios, on a night when Madrid have 70% of the ball and 24 shots to AEK's nine.
No Mauritanian footballer had ever scored against Real Madrid
Madrid turn it around through Mbappé and Valverde, and after the final whistle Koita is shown a red card for telling the referee where to go with a repeated “fuck off”. Even epic has its price.
Even epic has its price
The data already pointed to him: a Big Data rating of 64 and the 87th percentile for pressing, better than 87% of the wingers in the 37 leagues we analyse. With the Madrid game he has five goals and two assists this season. From Pikine to Real Madrid: a mineral that only appears when someone digs where nobody looks.
Data: API-Football, 2026/27 season up to 04/11/2026, including AEK v Real Madrid (Champions League, matchday 4). Big Data rating and percentiles: Al Primer Toque, against the wingers of the 37 leagues we analyse, with the league coefficient, as of 04/11/2026 before the match. Sample: 954 minutes before the match (397 in the league, 377 in Europe and 180 for Mauritania), 1,044 including it. Market value: our own estimate. Quote: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince (1943), chapter XXIV; Alberto Edjogo, Indomable (Panenka, 2019). Career and transfer: API-Football (seasons 2016-17 to 2020-21 and the €4m transfer). First Mauritanian to score against Real Madrid: no Mauritanian scorer in Madrid's 308 official matches since August 2021 in our database, nor in the 18 Levante v Madrid and Alavés v Madrid games from 2016 to 2021, the clubs of the only Mauritania internationals to have played in La Liga according to Wikidata (El Hacen and Abdallahi Mahmoud). Sources: birth, family and choice of Mauritania, Afrik-Foot (28/10/2023); “the Bundesliga or La Liga” and 15 goals, Afrik-Foot (07/07/2024); Antwerp and contract until 2029, La DH/Belga (13/07/2024) and iefimerida; 2024 Africa Cup of Nations, Sporza (29/01/2024); red card after the final whistle, Teleprensa.
