Lassana Diarra Backs Portsmouth for Survival

New Real Madrid midfielder Lassana Diarra has backed his former employers and "friends" to push up the English Premier League table in the coming months.

In a report published in The Portsmouth News, Diarra himself came out in support of Pompey and rubbishing the media reports that Portsmouth "needed" to sell him.

"I didn't leave Portsmouth for the money—both the manager and the fans know that...the opportunity of joining Real Madrid appears once in your life, and you have to take it," Diarra said.

Seeing Diarra come forward to say what Portsmouth supporters have all known already is excellent, and hopefully will demonstrate to supporters of other clubs that the media have been acting unfairly in regards to our club's situation.

But Diarra didn't just stop there; he also elaborated on the feelings and respect that he has for Portsmouth and our supporters.

"I still have many friends at Portsmouth and they will remain my second team," Diarra said. "I'm going to watch them on TV whenever I can."

I was slightly disappointed when Diarra first moved to Madrid as he really didn't take the time to thank the club which had helped revive his slightly faltering career. These statements from Diarra, however, will please all Portsmouth supporters.

I wrote an article when it was first announced that was agreed between Madrid and Pompey about the positives to come from this deal, and it is exactly these kind of statements and feelings from Diarra

In addition to all of this, Diarra is confident that Pompey will turn around their poor fortunes in the league to climb the table.

"I'm sure that Portsmouth won't have any problems in staying up...it will be difficult to repeat last season's campaign, but it's certainly possible for them to end up in the top half of the table," said Diarra.

Portsmouth currently find themselves in 14th place in the English Premier League.

Diarra made his first appearance in a Real Madrid shirt, along with fellow new-signing Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, in Real's 1-0 win against Villareal on 4 January.