Luis Enrique still calls him only “number 8”, as if it were a U15 detection course in the depths of Andalusia. But the Spanish coach, a handsome player after his team’s elimination against Morocco on Tuesday (0-0, 0-3 on penalties), holds Azzedine Ounahi in high esteem. In defense of the most famous Twitcher of this World Cup, the 22-year-old midfielder was still unknown, or almost, to the general public before the start of the competition.
He has 46 Ligue 1 games (2 goals and 2 assists) to his name with Angers, but in a certain anonymity. Trained at the Mohammed VI Academy in Morocco, he never had a chance in the elite during his two seasons at RC Strasbourg (from 2018 to 2020), before revealing himself in National at Avranches (2020-2021), then to seduce the SCO.
Not the kind of course that normally earns you the praise of a Luis Enrique in the round of 16 of the World Cup. Yet it is the beautiful story that Azzedine Ounahi lives in Qatar. “I was pleasantly surprised by the Moroccan number 8. Oh my God, where is this boy from? He played very well, he surprised me, “said the former Barça coach. But finally Luis, it was enough to slip a head at the René Fenouillère stadium in Avranches two years ago to see the obvious.