World Cup in Qatar
Ex-BVB star Hakimi attacks Fifa boss Infantino – and later apologizes
Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi in action: After the defeat against Croatia, the former BVB player was annoyed with the referee’s performance.
© Tom Weller / DPA
After Morocco’s defeat by Croatia in the game for third place in the World Cup, defender Achraf Hakimi is said to have angry at Fifa boss Gianni Infantino. Shortly afterwards he regretted his outburst.
Morocco lost the match for third place against Croatia at the World Cup – and Achraf Hakimi apparently blamed referee Abdulrahman Al Jassim in particular. The former Borussia Dortmund defender vented his anger on Fifa boss Gianni Infantino, as reported by Magenta TV and several international media.
MagentaTV reporter Thomas Wagner described the incident as Hakimi verbally attacked the Swiss boss of the world association in the catacombs in the players’ tunnel with “the toughest words”. The Moroccan asked Infantino “whether FIFA didn’t want Morocco to win a medal.” He loudly criticized the referee’s performance, who was “totally overwhelmed” and complained that the Atlas Lions were being systematically disadvantaged.
According to Wagner, the star of Paris Saint Germaine then had to be escorted into the dressing room by supervisors. “I was surprised that Infantino put up with it relatively easily,” said the reporter.
Achraf Hakimi apologizes for his words
Hakimi later downplayed the incident, but at the same time apologized for his outburst of anger: “Nothing happened. I was angry after the confrontation. I went to him (Gianni Infantino) to talk to him,” he explained on the Moroccan sports channel Arryadia. “I apologize for the words I addressed to him. Infantino is my friend and I respect him very much and nothing happened.”
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Morocco coach Walid Regragui tried to explain and put into perspective the emotional outbursts of his players. “When you lose a game you’re always disappointed. My players are very ambitious, it wasn’t a lack of respect. We can’t run after the referee, it’s not Morocco. Sometimes you overreact after a game that happens,” he said he.
The reason for the excitement was that his team did not receive penalties. Both the semi-finals and the third-place play-off saw contentious decisions that resulted in Moroccans being denied penalties. However, Morocco was also lucky in the small final when a foul on Croatian Bundesliga professional Josko Gvardiol in the penalty area was not punished.