Riyad Mahrez
Greatly absent from the listing from Algeria to face Uganda (June 4) and Tanzania (June 8) in the CAN 2023 qualifiers, captain Riyad Mahrez is officially hurt. While rumors of withdrawal circulate, the coach of the Fennecs, Djamel Belmadi, confirmed the official version (the package) this Monday to extinguish the controversy.
«To me, that’s a no-brainer. Yes, we can wonder why the captain of the team is not there, but as soon as we have a big part of the answer before even commenting on it, going in all directions… (… ) We received a medical report from his club, Manchester City, with a medical secret that must be respected“, highlighted the technician at a press conference. “Mahrez didn’t play the two games after the one against Real Madrid. He gritted his teeth because of the importance of the last few games, much like Ibrahimovic who said he had his knee bitten. (…) Make no mistake, our meetings are very important, but maybe if we had played a CAN final tomorrow, he might have had to bite the bullet. I’ve never forced a player to do that. (…) He was more than inclined to have his injury recorded, but I refused. I have never asked a player to come to have his health checked, there is a bond of trust that must be respected. You should know that it is perhaps the player with whom I am the most demanding and with whom I have the most to have to tighten the screw in quotes.»
A priori, Mahrez, like other executives, will therefore return to the next list in September.
