Ashraf Hakimi .. "The Lions" bet and a "headache" for the coach of Egypt

Morocco's right-back Ashraf Hakimi has translated the expectations that were expected of him by his country's supporters so far through the two wonderful goals he scored in the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon, and he is looking forward to more brilliance when the "Atlas Lions" face a fiery battle against Egypt Sunday in the quarter-finals.

It was not strange to see Hakimi, the French player of Paris Saint-Germain, planting the right corridor back and forth throughout the ninety minutes, after he starred in this position in all the clubs in which he played from Borussia Dortmund, to Inter and Real Madrid, to Saint-Germain.

Given the speed and accuracy of Hakimi's shooting, it is expected that this will constitute a headache for Egypt's coach, Queiroz, to try to control Hakimi and reduce his danger.

But it is surprising that Hakimi, who has a relatively high goal-scoring rate for a defender, has never scored from a set-top ball in the ranks of the clubs he defended their colors, but he did so twice in the ranks of Morocco with two wonderful shots, the first against Gabon, scoring a 2-2 equalizer in the minute 84 in the group stage, and the second against Malawi, scoring the winning goal 2-1, a third of an hour before the end of the final price, to give his country a ticket to qualify for the quarter-finals.

And when he asks whether that will allow him to take free kicks also in the ranks of Saint-Germain, he responds shyly, "I can try, but it will be very difficult with players like Messi, Neymar, Ramos and Mbappe."

However, his Bosnian-French coach Vahid Halilhodzic urges him to do so, saying, "I told him (take the ball and shoot and tell Neymar and Messi, it's my turn now), but of course I'm joking."

Hakimi confirmed that he is training on set pieces, saying, "I work on it during training and realize that I can do it. When you train well, you can achieve a result during matches."

Commenting on his winning goal against Malawi, he said, "I am very happy that the goal allowed my country to win."

After the goal, his colleague in Saint-Germain, world champion Kylian Mbappe, congratulated him and tweeted, "Achraf Hakimi, he is the best right-back in the world."

And his coach confirms this by saying, "Stationary kicks? Hakimi always takes them after training. He keeps shooting from all angles. He has high technique, super shots, did you see that?"

"It (his shots) has become a dangerous weapon for us, when the team can't shoot from open play," the coach continued.

A real leader

The coach adds, "He does not have to play on the right hall, only, I asked him to go inside and he did so against Gabon and he had a chance to score," noting that he is expected to be a real leader.

He continued, "The Moroccans are very demanding with him and me too. I asked him to take responsibility, but we must not forget that at the age of twenty-two only (23) and has a large margin to develop his performance, he will acquire the necessary maturity."

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