The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are officially underway following Friday's nights opening ceremony and for the next two weeks, the world's eyes are on the French capital.
While football is one of the many sports involved at the international event, it doesn't quite get the same coverage as other major tournaments such as the World Cup or European Championships . Perhaps, then, that is why no one seemed to notice a former Liverpool player as his country's flagbearer during the opening ceremony.
More than 10,700 athletes from 206 countries were paraded up and down the Seine by boat on Friday night, all representing their nations by waving flags throughout the spectacle. When Guinea, in particular, came along, no one seemed to notice that Naby Keita was on board.
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The former Reds midfielder is captaining his side at this summer's games and was the chosen flag bearer for the opening ceremony. This is the first time the 29-year-old is featuring at the Olympics with Guinea, who began their group stage campaign with a 2-1 defeat to New Zealand on Wednesday.
Drawn in Group A, Guinea will also face-off against hosts France (July 27) and the United States (July 30). Keita is one of three overage players in the squad, alongside former Napoli and Roma midfielder Amadou Diawara, 27, and Le Havre's Abdoulaye Toure, 30.
Keita is currently plying his trade for Werder Bremen after leaving Liverpool on a free transfer last summer. The Guinean was released at the end of his contract in May 2023 following an injury-ravaged five years on Merseyside , in which he was constantly in and out of the treatment room.
In his final campaign with the Reds, Keita made just eight appearances in the Premier League , although he did finish his career at Anfield with 11 goals in 129 games across all competitions and seven winners' medals, including the Champions League in 2018-19 and Premier League in 2019-20.
Since moving to Germany 12 months ago, however, things haven't gone to plan for Keita, having made just five appearances throughout the whole of last season. Injury ruled him out of nine of Bremen's first 12 league games of the season, before Africa Cup of Nations duty meant he missed four games in January.
When he was selected, Keita was often left on the bench, having initially failed to impress following his arrival. After being named as a substitute for five successive games throughout March, Keita decided to take matters into his own hands when he was told he would not be part of the starting line-up yet again for the following fixture.
As the rest of Bremen's team boarded the team bus for their Bundesliga clash with Bayer Leverkusen on April 14, Keita instead headed home. The club subsequently suspended him and fined him "a significant amount" , and he would not feature for the remainder of the season.
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