Achraf Hakimi, the Moroccan star born in Madrid who grew up at Real, eliminated Spain from the World Cup with a penalty “a la Panenka”

A ‘spy’ for the future. Several years ago, a young man who stood out on the right wing of Castilla (the subsidiary of Real Madrid) was called up and tempted to play in the Spanish national team. They even took him to see the Las Rozas facilities, the Fury’s training ground. Ahraf Hakimiborn in Getafe -in the south of the Community of Madrid- and today with 24 years, he was the author this Tuesday of the last goal ‘a la Panenka’ in the definition for sanctions with which Morocco made history and progressed to the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Qatar at the expense of… Spain.

With much authority, the star of the African team planted himself in the center of the area and tricked goalkeeper Unai Simon to ‘cut’ the ball in the center of the goal and unleash the madness of the Moroccans, who are among the eight for the first time best in a World Cup.

But, automatically, the climactic protagonist of what happened at the Ciudad de la Educación stadium triggered that memory, which also includes a brief suspension from FIFA in 2016, which has never been fully explained. As suspected at the time, he had racial ties, which happened at a time when Real Madrid has been investigated for hiring underage youth born in other countries.

It’s something that didn’t make much sense, in the end, because Hakimi was born in Getafe, within the Community of Madrid. “I think FIFA was looking for unusual immigrant names instead of looking at where they were born”explained anger takassaa “headhunter” of the Moroccan Federation in Spain.

And it was Takassa himself who, in 2009, singled out a thin 11-year-old footballer who, beyond his birthplace, he was eligible for Morocco due to his parents’ origin. Before the World Cup, Hakimi explained how he managed the interest of both teams to have him in the squad.

“I had contacts with the Spanish national team, but I always knew I would play for Morocco. I am a product of Moroccan culture. We always spoke Arabic at home, my mother cooked Moroccan food and I am a practicing Muslim.”said he was one of 14 North African national team players born away from the country.

And deepened: “There were some contacts when I was in the youth team, I also went to the Spanish national team to have a tryout, with De la Fuente. I was in Las Rozas for a couple of days and I saw that it wasn’t my place. I didn’t feel at home, not concretely at all, but for what I felt, because it wasn’t what I sucked and lived at home, which is Arab culture, being Moroccan. here”.

At the age of 9 he entered the children’s divisions of Real Madrid and went through all the stages until he reached the first team. He made his debut in 2017, played 17 games and scored two goals before going on loan to Germany’s Borussia Dortmund. He shone in the Bundesliga and after two seasons Inter bought his pass for 40 million euros.

In the 20/21 season he won the Serie A Scudetto and after scoring 7 goals in 45 games he aroused the interest of the powerful Paris Saint-Germain, who acquired his token in exchange for 70 million euros and offered him a contract for five seasons . . They are already two as partners Lionel Messi.

“My mother cleaned houses. My father was a traveling salesman. That I play football has been a dream for me and a sacrifice for them. My brothers have sacrificed things. We were very poor. I’m fighting for them now.”

In his second World Cup, since he was in Russia in 2018 at just 18, he is now the star of a utility kit, where the main premise is intensity and not giving up any turnovers. That sense of belonging is what can distinguish and excite Morocco in Qatar.