France president Emmanuel Macron reportedly visited the Moroccan dressing room after their World Cup semi-final defeat to France and singled out Sofyan Amrabat for special praise.
Le Bleus have reached their second World Cup final in succession, four years after going all the way to become world champions four years ago. Didier Deschamps won the tournament with his country as a player in 1998, and could now become just the second man to win it twice as a manager after their 2-0 victory over the North African nations, setting up Sunday’s final clash with Argentina.
Morocco have been the surprise package in Qatar, beating Belgium in the group stage to reach the knock-out rounds, where they disposed of Spain before stunning Portugal and sending Cristiano Ronaldo up the runnel in tears. But reaching the final proved a step too far for Walid Regragui’s men, who fell behind to an early Theo Hernandez goal before Randal Kolo Muani came off the bench to score a killer second.
But French head of state Macron made a point of dropping in on the defeated semi-finalists. Frabrizio Romano claims that the French premier made his way from the plush VIP seats at the Al Bayt stadium down to the changing rooms to commiserate with them.
And he was keen to tell breakout star Sofyan Amrabat that he was, in his opinion, the best midfielder on show during the entire tournament. Hearts fans got a close up view of Amrabat’s ability as he ran the show against them at Tynecastle for Fiorentina in a 3-0 win for La Viola in the Europa Conference League group stage.
But now the world has seen what he can do. The holding midfielder was a key man as Morocco defended well and counter attacked intelligently as they flew the flag for Africa. He’s now set the be the subject of intense transfer interest when the window opens next month.
Tottneham were reportedly interested in signing him last summer. But Spurs are sure to face stiff competition six months on if they plan on rekindling that, with clubs across Europe sure to have taken notice of the 26-year-old.
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