Mehdi Carcela

He made his professional debut at nineteen, when he came on as a substitute for Igor de Camargo in the 81st minute.

Mehdi François Carcela-González (المهدي كارسيلا; born 1 July 1989) is a former professional footballer who plays as a midfielder.

He began his career in his hometown club Standard Liège, playing 157 games and scoring 25 goals in two spells from 2008 to 2015.

Standard won 2–0 against Kortrijk on 13 September 2008.

He later made his European debut in the last game of the group stage of the UEFA Cup against Stuttgart on 18 December 2008, coming on as a substitute for Wilfried Dalmat in the 65th minute of a 3–0 away defeat.

In his first season, the club won the league and Belgian Super Cup, with him making only twelve appearances.

He won the league in 2009 and the cup two years later.

In between his two stints, he played for Anzhi Makhachkala in Russia, joining for a fee of €5.7 million.

Carcela began the 2009–10 season as a substitute, as Standard won the Belgian Super Cup for the second time running.

He then scored his first goal for the club and made an assist, in a 5–1 win over Roeselare on 15 August.

Four weeks later, on 13 September, he scored twice, as the team beat Mechelen 3–0.

He then scored in the next match six days later, in a 3–1 win over Lokeren.

On 24 November he was sent off in the Champions League group match at Arsenal after he head-butted Cesc Fàbregas in the waning moments of the 2–0 defeat at Emirates Stadium.

As a result, Carcela missed two matches in the next European games.

This season proved a breakthrough season for Carcela, as he scored five goals in 44 appearances in all competitions.

Carcela represented Belgium at all youth levels and played twice for its senior team before changing his allegiance to his ancestral Morocco in 2010.

In the 2010–11 season, Carcela's performances were observed by Zinedine Zidane from Real Madrid.

He made an impressive start to the season when he scored four goals in two games against Lierse on 6 August and Lokoren eight days later.

He then scored three goals in three matches between game weeks 10 and 12, as he helped the club humiliate Anderlecht in a 5–1 win; then scored another in a loss against Genk on 17 October; and a 2–1 win against Gent a week later.

At the end of 2010, Carcela was listed among the 100 best young players in the world by Don Balón.

By the end of the season, Carcela had made 44 appearances in all competitions and scoring 14 times, making him the club's top scorer of the 2010–11 season.

On 17 May 2011, he was on the receiving end of a kick in the face from Chris Mavinga while both players were tussling for the ball in a league match against Genk, which left him with several facial fractures and broken teeth.

After the match, Mavinga apologised to Carcela for his actions.

Meanwhile, that season, Carcela would help the club progress in the Belgian Cup by scoring in the second leg of the semi-final, as Standard Liège beat Gent 4–1 to reach the final.

Carcela had surgery to treat the injury he sustained from Mavinga.

He described the incident as the "most difficult period of his life" because he feared that he could have died.

As a result of having surgery, He missed the final of the Belgian Cup, in which his team won 2–0 against Westerlo.

In September 2011, Carcela moved to Russia by joining Anzhi Makhachkala for €5.7 million, where he signed a four-year contract.

Upon joining the club, he revealed that Spartak Moscow offered a wage double what Anzhi offered.

However, Spartak Moscow's sporting director, Dmitri Popov, denied the claim, suggesting he joined Anzhi because of his religion.

Makhachkala, capital of the Republic of Dagestan, has a large Muslim population and Carcela joined with his compatriot teammate Mbark Boussoufa.

In his first season, Carcela made only eight appearances, because of his injury concerns and his upcoming commitments in the African Cup of Nations.

He represented the latter country at the 2012 and 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

Carcela is a product of the Standard Liège academy, having joined the club at age five.

At one point, Carcela played in the centre forward position on 1 April 2012, in a 1–0 loss against Rubin Kazan.

In his first full season, Carcela saw his future at the club in doubt and considered leaving the club if he did not get enough playing time, and the club management considered selling him.

As a result, he was suspected to be moving to Udinese Despite this situation, he scored his first goal for the club, in a 1–0 win over Amkar Perm on 5 August 2012.

In the UEFA Europa League play-off round, Carcela-González scored again, as Anzhi thrashed AZ 5–0, beating them 6–0 on aggregate.

From there, Carcela had an extended run in the first team that he considered a step forward in his career.

In 2015, he signed with Benfica in Portugal, and a year later with Granada in Spain.