The day Lamine Yamal said “no” to Morocco defending the colours of Spain: “It doesn’t respect its origins…!”

The Mossos d’Esquadra are continuing their investigation into the knife attack on Mounir Nasraoui, father of FC Barcelona player Lamine Yamal, which occurred last Wednesday on a street in the Rocafonda neighbourhood of Mataró. Nasraoui. Nasraoui was stabbed twice at the level of the abdomen and, despite the severity of the injuries, he is recovering well and has already been transferred to the ward.

Since the incident occurred, there have been many hypotheses about the causes of the fight, but two have gained strength in particular: Envy and insult to Morocco for allowing his daughter to wear the Spanish shirt. Although, given his complicated character, he has already been involved in more than one problem.

A “traitor”

Yamal He has always opted to defend the Spanish jersey despite having the possibility of doing so for the countries where his parents are from: Morocco and Guinea.And that is something that his Moroccan neighbours have not forgiven, to the point of having received threats and hate attacks. In fact, the fact that Lamine plays for La Roja has brought him some problems, as confessed by a local innkeeper who is a friend of the family, who denounced the racism that the Yamal circle had suffered. “Yes, here in the neighborhood, yes. Remember that there are many immigrants and good and bad people here.”.

«I didn’t experience it so closely because I was always working in the bar, but especially when he decided to play for Spain instead of Morocco, he received a lot of hate messages from the Moroccan people. It’s strange. They saw it as a betrayal of their country.»he revealed, emphasizing that the footballer’s father has been involved in some unfortunate episodes.

This was Lamine’s “no” to Morocco

Despite pressure from Morocco, Lamine was clear that he wanted to play for Spain. Born to a Moroccan father and an Equatorial Guinean mother, the talented footballer caught the attention of the Moroccan Football Federation and coach Walid Regragui, who wanted to add Yamal to the Atlas Lions line-up.

In August 2023, in the midst of a media debate about Lamine Yamal’s future at the national team level, Mounir Nasraoui and his paternal grandmother, Fatima, traveled to Morocco and visited the Mohamed VI Football Complex in Salé at the invitation of Fouzi Lekjaa, president of the Federation Moroccan Football Club. Even in the face of the interest of the press and the Spanish Federation for Yamal not to play for Morocco, the national coach, Walid Regragui met the footballer in a restaurant in Barcelona, ​​according to media such as Rue20 or Hespress.

But Yamal’s decision was clear and the Moroccan Federation had no choice but to admit defeat.We met with his parents. We told him and his family about our project, but Lamine was already convinced to go with Spain. Spain and Morocco are separated by 14 kilometres and it is normal for these things to happen.”said Fouzi Lekjaa.

Days after his father’s visit to Morocco, The young FC Barcelona winger became the big news in the Spanish national team’s squad for the matches against Georgia and Cyprus.

“I have always played for Spain, since the U-15s, and I have always been clear that I wanted to play for Spain, win a European Championship, a World Cup and everything else possible,” the footballer expressed.

In November He had already played four matches for Spain, which closed the door to his international status with Morocco. This was a disappointment for Moroccan fans and led to attacks on social media against the footballer and his family.

The flag of controversy

They also did not look favourably on Lamine wearing the flags of Morocco and Guinea on his boots as a tribute to his origins. “The Moroccan flag represents our dignity and identity, and placing it on a shoe is to belittle it” either “Lamine chose to represent Spain at the expense of Morocco, and today he wears the Moroccan flag on his boots! This is behaviour that does not express respect for his origins!”were some of the comments that circulated on social networks.

Lamine Yamal will never forget September 8, 2023, the day he made his debut for the Spanish national team. He did so at the Boris Paichadze stadium in Tbilisi, against the local team, Georgia. At 16 years and 57 days old, he became the youngest player to make his debut for Spain. And he did so with a goal that has gone around the world. Moroccan fans will not forget it either.