Adrien Rabiot – France and Australia – World Cup 2022
France’s Adrien Rabiot refused to underestimate Morocco’s chances of facing the two teams in the 2022 World Cup semi-finals.
The Moroccan national team defeated Portugal with a goal without a response to qualify for the semi-finals of the Qatar World Cup 2022 and set a fiery date with the French national team, the defending champion.(see details)
“We will not underestimate any team,” Rabiot said in remarks published by L’Equipe newspaper.
“The Moroccan players deserve to be in the semi-finals thanks to their ability to withstand pressure,” he added.
“We will prepare well for this match, but we have to recover first because we are tired,” the Juventus player added.
“This match will be watched very closely in France, because there is a large Moroccan community,” he added.
Rabiot criticized the referee’s decision in the France-England match for awarding a second penalty kick to the English.
He explained, “I have seen hundreds of similar situations, and the referees do not count them as a penalty kick, but justice landed on the field when it was wasted.”
The Moroccan national team wrote history by ascending to the World Cup semi-finals at the expense of Portugal with a free goal.
Youssef Al-Nusairi scored Morocco’s only goal in the match with a header in the 41st minute, after a cross from Yahya Atiyatallah.
Morocco became the first Arab and African team to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.
And the third team to qualify for the World Cup semi-finals from outside the continents of South America and Europe, after America 1930 and South Korea 2002.
Morocco will play in the semi-finals with the winner from England and France.
Adel Youssef Al-Nusairi, the Moroccan national team player, equaled the record as a historical goal for the Arab teams in the World Cup.
Moroccan player Adel No. Sami Al-Jaber, Salem Al-Dosari and Wahbi Al-Khazri scored 3 goals each.
Al-Nusairi had scored a goal in the 2018 edition against Spain.
He also raised his goal tally to two in the current edition, after scoring against Canada in the group stage.
Al-Nusairi became the historic scorer for the Moroccan national team in the World Cup, overtaking Salah El-Din Bassir, Abdel-Jalil Hadda “Camacho” and Abdel-Razzak Khairi.
Al-Nusairi became the first player from Seville and the first Arab player to score in the quarter-finals of the World Cup.