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Rabat – Fouzi Lekjaa, President of Morocco’s Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), announced that FC Barcelona’s Abdel Ezzalzouli has been called up to join Morocco’s Atlas Lions.
Moroccan fans have been calling for the federation to secure the FC Barcelona player for weeks, as speculation spread that he was going to choose to play for Spain instead.
Ezzalzouli’s arrival, along with the expected return of Noussair Mazraoui and Hakim Ziyech to the Atlas Lions squad, can help soothe some tensions in the team and among fans ahead of the World Cup playoffs against DR Congo later this month.
Read Also: Morocco Confirms Return of Ziyech, Mazraoui to National Football Team
Ezzalzouli had recently teased his arrival to the national team when he posted a story on Instagram that had his photo in a Moroccan jersey, accompanied with the caption “Soon.”
While Ezzalzouli suggested previously that he wanted to focus on his club career, there have been reports speculating that he had chosen to play for Spain rather than the Atlas Lions.
In January, Lekjaa said that he spoke with the FC Barcelona player who told him that he had not decided about his international career and that he simply needed more time to make up his mind.
Ezzalzouli had rejected an invitation to play with Morocco’s national team in this year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). Morocco’s team ended up exiting the competition on a disappointing note after a quarter-final defeat to Egypt, prompting calls from fans for a shakeup of the FRMF leadership and the national team’s organization.
The Atlas Lions will face DR Congo in the first leg of the decisive World Cup playoffs on March 25 in Kinshasa, while the second leg will take place on March 29th in Casablanca.
