World Cup in Qatar: Ex-BVB star Hakimi attacks Fifa boss Infantino – and later apologizes

Morocco lost the match for third place against Croatia at the World Cup - and Achraf Hakimi apparently blamed referee Abdulrahman Al Jassim above all.

World Cup in Qatar: Ex-BVB star Hakimi attacks Fifa boss Infantino – and later apologizes

Morocco lost the match for third place against Croatia at the World Cup - and Achraf Hakimi apparently blamed referee Abdulrahman Al Jassim above all. The former Borussia Dortmund defender vented his anger on Fifa boss Gianni Infantino, as reported by Magenta TV and several international media.

Hakimi verbally attacked the Swiss boss of the world association in the catacombs in the players' tunnel with the "hardest words", MagentaTV reporter Thomas Wagner described the incident. 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 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.

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."

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 the Croatian Bundesliga professional Josko Gvardiol in the penalty area was not punished.

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