Achraf Hakimi was born in Madrid but he will have little hesitation in plotting Spain’s downfall when he and his Moroccan team-mates take on the 2010 World Cup winners on Tuesday.
The flying wingback is one of the key players of the North African outfit whose last-16 match at the Qatar World Cup against Spain at Al Rayan’s Education City Stadium saw them reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup. first time.
Hakimi could have gone in the opposite direction as well, as he was called up to the Spanish junior team as a teenager.
“I felt it wasn’t the right place for me, I didn’t feel at home. It wasn’t for anything in particular, but it wasn’t how I lived at home, which is Arab culture, Moroccan Being,” he told Spain’s Marca newspaper in the build-up to Tuesday’s clash.