A press report revealed the reason why Salim Al-Jabari, one of the football talents in Spain, refused to represent the Spanish U-19 national team.
And the Spanish newspaper "Mundo Deportivo" (mundodeportivo) stated that Al-Jabari, who is one of the jewels in the Atletico Madrid youth team, was summoned to the Spain U-19 national team list, and then was excluded after that at his request.
Al-Jabari was scheduled to play two friendlies against Norway with the Spanish national team, but he asked to leave La Roja's list.
Beautifully done by Salim El Jebari.
🇪🇸 #AtletiSAL #UYL #Atleti pic.twitter.com/NBSectmjai
— RD Football Scout (@RdScouting) April 22, 2022
The reason for Jabari's decision - who is training under the supervision of former Atletico Madrid player Fernando Torres - not to play for Spain is that he decided to represent the Moroccan national team.
And the Spanish newspaper confirmed that Al-Jabari followed in the footsteps of other players who made the same decision, such as Ashraf Hakimi, the Paris Saint-Germain player, Munir El-Haddadi, the current Getafe striker, and Abdel Samad Al-Zalzouli, the Osasuna player loaned from Barcelona.
Al-Jabari, who was born on February 5, 2004 to Moroccan parents, previously represented the Spain national team in the junior Sunni groups, but after much thought he decided to play for the "Atlas Lions".
Al-Jabari wore the Spain under-18 shirt in 6 friendly matches, including 3 against Morocco and one against Algeria, France and Denmark, during which he scored one goal and provided one assist.
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pic.twitter.com/cljuXdvMuI
- Sel_esp📹 (@Sel_esp_videos1) February 23, 2022
Al-Jabari made this decision after the brilliance of the Moroccan national team, led by national coach Walid Rekraki, in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, in which the “Atlas Lions” finished fourth, in an achievement that no Arab or African team had ever reached in the history of the World Cup.
And "Mundo Deportivo" indicated that Jabbari wants to play for the Moroccan national team, although he was not called up by Regragui for any match.
Jose Lana, Spain's under-19 coach, decided to call up Atletico Madrid's Adrian Nino as a replacement for Jabbari.
Salim El Jebari (19y) has decided to represent Atlas Lions 🇲🇦❤️🔥
The Atleti player has played for both nations at youth level pic.twitter.com/75HQxecn55
— 𝗠𝗩𝗡_𝗘𝗡 |
🇲🇦 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 (@MVN_EN) February 22, 2023
It is noteworthy that Al-Jabari has a contract with Atletico Madrid that extends until June 30, 2025.
Al-Jabari started his football career as a player at the Rayo Vallecano Academy, before moving to Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2018, and in less than 4 years he rose to the reserve team for Atletico under the leadership of Torres.