Noussair Mazraoui played a key role in Morocco’s last-gasp 2-1 victory over Niger in World Cup qualifying last night.
The former Bayern Munich defender has been a stalwart for United this season playing 44 times for the club, in numerous different positions.
He started at left back for his side yesterday and he made a telling contribution.
With the score poised at 1-1 and having already entered additional time the full back picked up the ball and drove at the Niger defence.
A clever one-two allowed him to break down the left hand side where he clipped a delightful lob to the back post which Leicester City’s Bilal El Khannouss had the simplest task of heading home.
Mazraoui played the entire 90 minutes and was given a rating of 7.5 on Sofascore.
Alongside his one assist, he made two clearances and two interceptions.
The full back also made two tackles and won three out of his seven ground duels.
He did lose all three of his aerial battles, however.
Naturally, Morocco had significantly more possession than their opponents so Mazraoui’s biggest impact came on the ball.
He made two key passes and completed 89% of his 53 pass attempts.
The 27 year old also connected with two of his six crosses, including his assist for the late winner.
The victory means that Morocco have seized control of Group E and are now six points ahead of Niger at the top of the table, as they have won four games from four.
The World Cup semi-finalists will next be in action when they take on Tanzania on Tuesday night.
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
