World Cup: Morocco manager hails Chelsea star after stunning performance vs Belgium

Chelsea star Hakim Ziyech is one of the players that have been in the spotlight at the ongoing 2022 World Cup.

While the 29-year-old has struggled to produce consistent form for Chelsea since he joined them from Dutch club Ajax, he has played the full 90 minutes in both of Morocco’s group games so far and was named man of the match in their 2-0 win over Belgium on Sunday.

Morocco coach Walid Regragui in his post-match news conference after Sunday’s win applauded Ziyech.

“You know this guy, he is incredible,” Regragui said of Ziyech after the game.

“The spirit, when he came back into the national team, it came back. What a lot of people say about him is that he’s a crazy guy, a difficult guy to manage, he can’t help the team.

“But for me what I see is that when you give him love and confidence, he can die for you. And that is what I give him.

“And he returned to me my confidence and the confidence of the fans of Morocco, because a lot of fans of Morocco wanted Hakim to come back into the team and he knew that.”

So far in the EPL this season, Ziyech has only started one game and has only featured in five of Chelsea’s 14 top-flight fixtures.