Where, the manager and players of Tottenham Hotspur may wonder, will they find Manchester United’s Noussair Mazraoui at kick off of the Europa League final in Bilbao?
He might be at wing-back. On either side of midfield. He may be part of United’s back three. There’s always the long-shot possibility of a more radical deployment, too, perhaps as a central midfielder, even a number 10. If trophies were awarded for versatility, the multi-skilled Moroccan would have a warehouse full of them.
As it is, Mazraoui finds himself 90, or 120-odd minutes from capping a rollercoaster first season at Manchester United with a first continental title to add to his handsome set of domestic prizes from his time at Ajax and Bayern Munich, and poised to set in motion a very special treble for his country.
By the end of next week, Morocco could have seen three of the stars from its golden generation of players lift, in quick succession, the full trio of Uefa club trophies - Mazraoui the Europa League with United, Abde Ezzalzouli the Conference League with Real Betis, who meet Chelsea in Wroclaw next Wednesday, and Achraf Hakimi the Champions League if Paris Saint-Germain can overcome his former club Inter Milan in Munich on May 31.
All three were vital contributors to guiding Morocco’s Atlas Lions to a historic place in the semi-finals of the last World Cup, a landmark for Arab and African football and a launchpad for a sequence of individual Moroccan successes.
At the weekend, RS Berkane, the newly crowned Moroccan league champions, put themselves in pole position to win the CAF Confederation Cup, Africa’s secondary continental prize, with a 2-0 victory over Simba of Tanzania in the first leg of the final.
That leaves Berkane’s smattering of Morocco internationals hopeful of adding their names to a growing roll of honour of continental prizes.
Last season’s included an Asian Champions League for Al Ain’s Soufiane Rahimi, a Concacaf Champions League for Oussama Idrissi with Pachuca of Mexico, an African Champions League for Reda Slim of Al Ahly, a Uefa Conference League title for Ayoub Al Kaabi of Olympiakos and a European Cup for Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz.
Curiously, none of those five were at the Qatar World Cup with Morocco, for varying reasons, but are all senior internationals whose achievements vouch for the country’s strength in depth and, according to national head coach Walid Regragui, for a self-confidence generated since the Qatar 2022 adventure.
“The World Cup was a turning point,” Regragui told the newspaper AS. “We have always had talent and had players representing major clubs, but it was time for us to face up to the big football powers and look them in the eye without fear. That’s the edge we have developed.”
The players Regragui will watch competing in the trio of Uefa finals boast a catalogue of major clubs on their resumes. Abde, 23, was at Barcelona before taking his nimble wing play on to Osasuna and, for the past two seasons, to Betis.
Hakimi came through the academy at Real Madrid and was a teenaged member of the squad who won the European Cup in 2017/18, before going on to win domestic trophies in Germany, with Borussia Dortmund, in Italy with Inter, and a series of Ligue 1 titles in his four seasons so far with PSG.
Mazraoui was a Dutch champion with Ajax and Bundesliga winner with Bayern before accepting the huge challenge of trying to restore United’s past status as a superpower of the English Premier League.
That is still a work in progress. Mazraoui joined from Bayern last summer, reuniting with Erik ten Hag, his former head coach at Ajax. In late October, Ten Hag was gone, but amid the turmoil of a wretched domestic season, Mazraoui has emerged as the most admired of the 2024/25 new signings - for his endeavour, his stamina, his mix of defensive authority and creativity and a versatility appreciated equally by Ten Hag and his successor as manager, Ruben Amorim.
In all, he has operated in six different starting positions for United: right-back, left back, centre-back, and, once Amorim had installed his preferred wing-back system, on both the right and left extremes of midfield. Ten Hag’s penultimate match in charge, at Fenerbahce in the Europa League, featured Mazraoui as an attacking central midfielder. “A surprise,” he admitted to reporters, but a task he fulfilled with his customary accomplishment. He knew the role, he added because “I played in it a long time ago.”
Added to all these positional switches was another challenge: a health scare, a heart issue that caused Mazraoui to leave the field in a league game against Aston Villa in October. He was back in action within a fortnight, endorsing his warrior reputation.
That strength of character has been most pronounced in United’s European campaign, where they are unbeaten in 14 matches, a record in sharp contrast to their limp Premier League showings.
The route to Bilbao has been punctuated by stirring comebacks, from a see-saw 3-3 in Porto, with its stoppage time equaliser, to the astonishing recovery in the quarter-final against Lyon, against whom United had trailed 6-4 on aggregate with 11 minutes of extra-time remaining. They still clawed their way through.
In the Europa League, only Bruno Fernandes, of United’s outfield players, has been on the pitch for more minutes than Mazraoui. “A lot of minutes, playing in different positions,” he reflects, ahead of what will be his 59th game of the season, club and country combined - and his third confrontation with Spurs, one at right full-back, one as a centre-back, and one on the right of midfield.
Regragui has long valued Mazraoui’s flexibility, and if the player would naturally regard the right side of defence as his most expert position, his mastery of the left-back role has been a blessing for the Atlas Lions.
It meant Hakimi, among the finest attacking right-backs in the sport, could make the right flank his domain, with Mazraoui providing high-class balance on the other side of the pitch.
Two finer examples of stamina could scarcely be found. Hakimi, who captained Morocco to a bronze medal at the Paris Olympic Games, will be lining up in Munich for his 60th match for club or country since last June.
His imprint on PSG’s path to what they hope will be the club’s maiden Champions League triumph is heavy. Hakimi’s marauding runs brought him goals in both the quarter-final against Aston Villa and the semi against Arsenal. “He’s a reference point for us on and off the field,” says PSG head coach Luis Enrique.
For Betis, Abde’s goals are, pure and simple, the reason why Betis have reached a first Uefa final. He struck the opener in the 2-1 victory over Fiorentina in the first leg of their Conference League semi and the extra-time equaliser in the second leg in Italy to seal a 3-2 aggregate win.
Abde’s year has been long and tiring too, because, like Hakimi, he was a key man in Morocco’s Olympic summer. In the months that followed the winger sometimes struggled for consistency with Betis.
But his head coach Manuel Pellegrini, grateful that Abde’s return to peak effectiveness has been so well timed, sees him as a major weapon against Chelsea: “Abde is back to being the player we all hope he can be.”
