Carl Medjani

Liverpool

After spending his youth development years at Saint-Étienne, he was signed by Liverpool's manager Gérard Houllier in August 2003. Liverpool beat off stiff competition from Premiership rivals Arsenal, Manchester United and German giants Bayern Munich to secure his services. In an interview with L'Équipe, Medjani revealed he left Saint-Étienne because he was willing to stay if given an opportunity with the first team, but his request was turned down by manager Frédéric Antonetti. Medjani then struggled to break in Liverpool first team so he was sent on loan to Lorient for the whole 2004–05 season by new Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez, where he made 25 appearances. Despite impressing in the Toulon under-20 tournament in summer 2005, Benítez deemed it necessary for him to gain more experience and so he spent 2005–06 on loan at Metz.

Lorient

At the start of the 2006–07 season, he rejoined Lorient, this time on a permanent basis.

Ajaccio

In the 2007–08 season, Medjani moved down to Ligue 2 joining Ajaccio for the remainder of the season. The 2008–09 season earned Medjani a permanent move with the club on a three-year deal. He soon made an immediate impact when he scored his first goal in the second round of Coupe de la Ligue during Ajaccio's 4–2 loss against Montpellier. On 20 February 2009, Medjani came on as a substitute in the second half and 18 minutes into the game, he was sent off, along with Brahim Ferradj in the same minute, as…

Medjani has an Algerian father and a French mother, and was eligible for both national teams. Medjani captained the France U21 team in the Toulon Tournament of 2006. However, being of Algerian origin, he made the switch to represent Algeria in international competitions and was called up by Rabah Saâdane to the Algeria national team's preliminary squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, before going on to make the full tournament squad. On 10 December 2012, it was announced that Medjani was selected in the 40-man provisional squad for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations. Medjani survived the cuts, firstly to the 24-man list announced on 18 December 2012, and then to the final squad of twenty-three. Having won 25 caps by this point, Medjani made his second FIFA World Cup squad by winning a place in the Algerian cohort for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. A year and ten appearances later, Medjani joined the Algeria team at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

Club

International goals

Scores and results list Algeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Medjani goal.

While growing up, Medjani revered boxer Muhammad Ali.