100% tackles won, 12 duels won: United defender puts in rock solid showing on international duty

Manchester United defender Noussair Mazraoui participated in Morocco’s second group match of the Africa Cup of Nations. The defender assisted his side’s first goal against Comoros in the first game of the tournament. It has been a positive start for United’s African stars as Bryan Mbeumo also got an assist for Cameroon and Amad scored Ivory Coast’s only goal. Noussair Mazraoui Mazraoui played the entire 90 minutes at right-back as the Moroccans were held to a 1-1 draw with Mali. The draw means that Morocco’s world-record run of 19 consecutive victories is over, but they are still undefeated in 22 matches since they were knocked out of the last-16 of AFCON 2023. The Morocco international was involved much more defensively last night, making seven defensive contributions in the match. He also won all four of his tackles, alongside one interception and one clearance. Mazraoui was also very effective in his duels, winning four out of five aerial battles. The full-back was also very strong in ground duels, winning a total of eight. Less influence in attack One of Mazraoui’s greatest strengths is his flexibility and his capacity to contribute both defensively and in attack. He had much less impact from an offensive perspective against Mali, though. The 28-year-old had zero key passes, and all four of his cross attempts failed to connect with a teammate. He also only completed 76% of his passing attempts, as he was not very careful with the ball in possession. Morocco will conclude their group stage with a match against Zambia on Monday evening, looking to win the group. Noussair Mazraoui stats vs Mali StatisticValue Goals0 Assists0 Defensive contributions7 Tackles (won)4 (4) Interceptions1 Clearances1 Blocked shots1 Recoveries3 Ground duels (won)16 (8) Aerial duels (won)5 (4) Fouls2 Dribbled past0 Key passes0 Crosses (accurate)4 (0) Accurate passes34 / 45 (76%) Passes in opposition half (accurate)25 / 33 (76%) Passes in own half (accurate)9 / 12 (75%) Long balls (accurate)1 / 6 (17%) Touches87 Unsuccessful touches3 Dribbles (successful)3 (0) Was fouled4 Possession lost28 Total shots0 Shots on target0 Shots blocked0 Featured image Justin Setterfield via Getty Images The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Alex Browne Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Alex has a Master’s degree from Queen’s University Belfast and La Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain. Having lived in the country since 2011, Alex is The Peoples Person’s Spanish football expert and is fluent in both Spanish and Catalan. He dreams of witnessing a United captain triumphantly hoisting the Premier League and Champions League trophy in the air once more.