Picture Luis Enrique, one of the sharpest tactical minds in European football, scratching his head in genuine bewilderment after watching his Spain side get knocked out of the 2022 World Cup by Morocco. Who on earth is that number eight, he wondered aloud, sounding less like a legendary coach and more like a guy who just got mugged by a stranger at a traffic light. That number eight was Azzedine Ounahi, a 22-year-old from Angers who had apparently decided that football's grandest stage was the perfect place to play like he owned the place. Enrique was not the only one captivated. The entire football world sat up and took notice as this slight, relentless midfielder ran himself into the ground and then somehow kept running.
Fast forward to 2026, and Ounahi is no longer the mystery man stunning the establishment. He is a cornerstone of a Moroccan side that has become a genuine force at the top table of international football. France and Morocco are about to lock horns again, this time with a semi-final spot on the line in Boston, and the Atlas Lions will need their maestro at his orchestral best if they are going to give the French a serious headache.
Nasser Larguet, who oversaw Ounahi's development at the Academie Mohammed VI, admits he was genuinely shocked by how seamlessly the young midfielder adapted to the elite level in 2022. The jump from Angers to the World Cup is like going from a neighborhood karaoke night to headlining Madison Square Garden, and Ounahi made it look like he had been doing it for years.
Under the current coach Mohamed Ouahbi, Ounahi has been redeployed in a more advanced role, and the results have been spectacular. He opened the scoring with a brilliant free-kick routine against Canada in the Round of 16, then added a second by finishing off a devastating counter-attack with the kind of emphatic strike that makes you wonder why anyone ever played him deeper. Larguet puts it perfectly: in 2022 he was the link between defense and attack, the assist provider, but now he is the one putting the ball in the net.
The journey between those two versions of Ounahi has not been smooth sailing. His Qatar heroics earned him a move to Marseille, but minutes were scarce and he was shipped out to Panathinaikos on loan. He eventually landed at Girona, who were relegated from La Liga, which on paper sounds like a step backward but has done nothing to diminish his importance to Morocco. Larguet notes that Ounahi plays with genuine passion for the national shirt and thrives on the fierce competition for places within the squad.
When the whistle blows in Boston, you can be certain of one thing: nobody will be asking who Morocco's number eight is anymore. The only question will be whether France can find an answer for him.
