CAN 2022: Yacine Brahimi, back in favor

Algerian striker Yacine Brahimi during the Arab Cup final in Qatar against Tunisia on December 18, 2021. AP - Darko Bandic

Text by: Farid Achache Follow

3 min

Yacine Brahimi is making his comeback in the Algerian selection for the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

The former Porto player proved at the Arab Nations Cup that he could still be counted on.

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Yacine Brahimi still has it under his feet.

The former Porto player (215 matches for 54 goals) was recently voted best player in the Arab Nations Cup after

won

He had been recalled by his former teammate in selection A, Madjid Bougherra.

An offensive armada with Brahimi

The idea: to supervise a young group in Qatar. The successful bet finally opened the doors to the selection once again and he was ready to compete in a new CAN. His last selection with the A dates back to November 2020. The attacking midfielder completes an impressive offensive armada led by

striker

, alongside the indestructible Islam Slimani and Baghdad Bounedjah, author of the only goal in Cairo who had offered

at the expense of Senegal.

Yacine Brahimi, who was part of the party in Egypt in 2019, also had a dream come true at

where he scored a goal against South Korea before playing a historic round of 16 against Germany.

The native of Paris, passed through the training center of Clairefontaine, and Paris Saint-Germain among the juniors, had been summoned with the Greens for the first time in March 2013.

A unique dribbler

Yacine Brahimi, whose agreement on the ground with Sofiane Feghouli has always been put forward, participated in the CAN 2015 in Equatorial Guinea. His unique dribbling ability to grab the ball and serve his teammates didn't go unnoticed. “ 

” he said. With his qualities of speed and percussion, he had regaled the Spanish championship in front of the best dribbler during the 2013-2014 season, ahead of Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar. Then we found it in Gabon in 2019 and in the land of the Pharaohs in 2019.

Now a player in Qatar, Brahimi also made an impression in 2014 by being the first Algerian international to score a hat-trick in the Champions League with Porto against BATE Borisov.

For his first C1 match of his career, he imitated Drogba, Eto'o and Yakubu.

Complicated beginnings

However, the trajectory of Brahimi had not been so easy, he who had struggled to find a place in the French championship after his first professional contract with Rennes in 2008. He is on loan from the Breton club in Granada in Spain.

Elected best African player in La Liga in 2014, he will also be named best African player by the BBC.

In Cameroon,

, Equatorial Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire, which they beat in quarterback in 2019, in the shock of group E. Yacine Brahimi, 31, will be there to add a third star in the green jersey.

A dream goal for his return to the selection.

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