"I was surprised by the player No. 8 of the Moroccan national team. Oh my God, where did this man come from? He was playing in an amazing way, he didn't stop running and he seems exhausted now. I talked about him with the coaching staff, and he surprised me with his great level."

With these words, Luis Enrique, coach of the Spanish national team, began the press conference that followed the match between Morocco and Spain, at the price of the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar. He talked about the Moroccan midfielder Azzedine Onahi, praising the remarkable performance of the French player Anji in the match that witnessed qualification. Historically, the Atlas Lions reached the quarter-finals after winning a penalty shootout 3-0, following the end of the match on a goalless tie in the regular and extra time.

Luis Enrique expressed his great admiration for Ezzedine Onahi, adding, "Ashraf Hakimi, Nusiri, and Amrabat also play in a wonderful way."

The Moroccan national team achieved a historic qualification for the quarter-finals of the World Cup Qatar 2022, becoming the first Arab team, and the fourth African team after Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002) and Ghana (2010), to achieve this achievement in the World Cup.

Luis Enrique admitted that the Spanish national team dominated the field, created many opportunities and almost advanced in the middle, but the opponent had high qualifications and defensive characteristics, and presented an amazing defensive performance, adding, “I am happy with what the Spanish national team presented, and I praise Morocco and congratulate them. They were better than us in penalty kicks, Number 8 was great, Bono was amazing, I wish them luck in the next round."

Abundant bid and international acclaim

The statements of the coach of the "La Roja" national team against Ezzedine Onahi were nothing but confirmation of his artistic value and his abundant giving in the final price match.

And at the Education City Stadium, and in front of the Spain national team, which was nominated by many observers before the start of the competitions to play the first rounds, Onahi, who is only 22 years old, performed distinguishedly in the middle of the field and tightened his control over large areas of the field despite the strength of Spain’s midfield, as he defended relentlessly. During the 119 minutes he played in the match, in both the original and extra times, before he left his place in the last seconds of the match to his colleague Badr Bannon.

Onahi made a remarkable bid in front of a strong midfield for Spain (Getty Images)

During Morocco’s march in the 2022 World Cup, Onahi played all the main matches, but the Atlas Lions coach, Walid Regraki, used to change him at the end of the match, as he played approximately 80 minutes in each match of the first round against Croatia (0-0), Belgium (2-0) and Canada ( 2-1) He gave a remarkable performance, before he reached his peak against the Spaniards, where he played 119 minutes with remarkable physical fitness that prompted coach Enrique to say, "He did not stop running and it seems that he is exhausted now."

A walk behind the lights

Until the end of the year 2021, Onahi, born on April 19, 2000, did not have a name mentioned in Moroccan football, as he was out of the limelight in the star-studded Atlas Lions team, but the former coach of Morocco, Wahid Haliludzic, surprised the Moroccan fans and the media, as he directed The invitation to the player is on the list of the Moroccan national team, which was preparing for the finals of the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

Khalilodzic, during his preview of his teammate Sufyan Boufal, followed Onahi and decided to invite him for the first time on December 22, 2021 to strengthen the Atlas Lions list.

On January 12, in Morocco's first match at the African Nations, Onahi won the honor of carrying his country's national team shirt for the first time in his career, before his participation continued, as he played his 14th match with Morocco against Spain.

Ezzedine Onahi was born in the city of Casablanca, before starting his football career in the Raja Casablanca club academy, which opened the doors of European professionalism for him, when he joined the French club Strasbourg in 2018.

In the year 2020, Onahi moved to the French club Avronche, with whom he fought for the first season with the reserve team and second with the first team, where he gave an outstanding performance that prompted the French club Anji officials to sign with him to play 47 matches so far and scored two goals.