Morocco: Atlas Lions Proud, Honored By Audience Granted By HM the King

U.S. President Joe Biden watched the 2022 World Cup match between Morocco and France with Prime Minister Akhannouch of Morocco, front, Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari, middle right.

Rabat — The players of the national soccer team, who reached the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, expressed on Tuesday their happiness and pride following the audience granted to them by HM King Mohammed VI at the Royal Palace in Rabat.

The captain of the Atlas Lions, Ghanem Saïss, stressed in a statement to the press that the team is "very honored" to have been received by His Majesty King Mohammed VI.

"It is a great honor to be able to meet HM the King," said Saïss, while expressing his thanks to the Sovereign for His efforts to develop national soccer.

"Many players from the Mohammed VI Academy of soccer arrive at the national team, which shows the importance" of the work done by HM the King, noted the captain of the Atlas Lions.

"We made a World Cup of quality and we have especially shown beautiful values, human values, the values of Morocco in general, which allowed us to reach this level of the competition," added the Moroccan international.

"It is a page of the history of soccer that has been written in Morocco and I hope that this is only the beginning and that we will continue to write beautiful pages of this history," said Ghanem Saïss.

For his part, Sofyan Amrabat said he was pleased with the audience granted by His Majesty King Mohammed VI to members of the national soccer team.

"It is a dream that has come true. I am very happy to have met our King," said the midfielder of the Atlas Lions.

Amrabat also thanked the Moroccan people for the warm welcome they have given to the national team and for the support they have shown throughout the World Cup in Qatar.

He also thanked the Moroccans of the world for their support and encouragement.

"It is incredible. I have never seen this in my life. As if we had won the World Cup," he said.

"We are very proud to have brought joy to our people," added the national team midfielder.

"Meeting His Majesty the King is a great joy for us," said, for his part, Achraf Hakimi.

"We were between us, locked up, but coming here and seeing the Moroccan people so happy gives us a lot of motivation and strength for the great successes that will be experienced by our national team," added the right-back of the Atlas Lions.

"We have given everything this month to make our country proud," said Hakimi.

As for Jawad El Yamiq, he said he was also honored by the audience granted by the Sovereign to the Atlas Lions.

"We are very proud to have honored our country," said the central defender.

"We had a wonderful welcome from the Moroccan public since our arrival at the airport," added El Yamiq, expressing his pride in the achievement made by the Atlas Lions during the World Cup in Qatar.

"We will continue to work to honor Morocco and Africa," stressed the defender.

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