Morocco captain, Achraf Hakimi has opened up on his penalty kick against Nigeria during the AFCON semi-final shoot-out in mid-week.
He revealed that he carefully observed Nigerian goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali’s movements to gauge how he was diving.
The 27-year-old captained Morocco to victory against Nigeria as the AFCON host won 4-2 via penalty shoot-out following a 0-0 draw after 120 minutes.
Hakimi successfully converted his penalty, helping the Atlas Lions secure a spot in the AFCON final against Senegal’s Teranga Lions.
“Al Hamdulillah [Thank God]. At that moment, many things went through my head, I won’t deny it; I relived many memories, and I remembered the penalty in Ivory Coast, when I wanted to help my team and unfortunately I didn’t score it,” Hakimi said via Elbotola
“I was watching the goalkeeper [Stanley Nwabali] a bit, how he was diving on my teammates’ shots, then I saw there was space and the shot went in very well.”
