Achraf and his pending account

To talk about Real Madrid and PSG is to bring the mind, irrevocably, to Kylian Mbappé. As soon as the lights of the Parc des Princes turn on this Tuesday (9:00 p.m.), all eyes will go to the bondybois. Or maybe not. Because such a clash is full of intrahistories, pending accounts and rematches. Di María, Keylor and his white past, Neymar and his flirtation when he was a child…, but there is another footballer, also in the Parisian team, whom many surely expected to be wearing the opposite jersey at the moment: Achraf Hakimi.

The Hispano-Moroccan was one of the jewels in the crown of Factory. Irreverent winger, with an endless journey, Zidane gave him the alternative back in 2017-18. Achraf was an 18-year-old teenager who would act as an alternative to the player he was called to replace, Dani Carvajal. 17 games between all competitions, flashes like his goals against Sevilla and Celta in two resounding wins in February and March 2018 (5-0 and 6-0), and some doubt. Indomitable potential, he opted for the path that went so well for the Leganense. Cession to the Bundesliga as a springboard to the elite. If Carvajal went to Leverkusen, Achraf went to Dortmund.

Loan for two seasons in which he polished edges at the same speed that the band rose. The vertical football that appears as a registered trademark in Germany, is promoted in the Signal Iduna Park and benefited from its style. In the second campaign, in fact, it was more common, protected by three central defenders, to see him hit as a lane with extreme soul. His numbers noticed. If in 2018-19 there were three goals and seven assists, in the following one it exploded: nine goals and ten final passes to his teammates. Already installed in the elite, there was a fight to get his services, but it seemed time to return to Madrid.

It could not be. The pending accounts begin. With Carvajal still as immovable headline, from the Paseo de la Castellana they opted to cash in with one of their best values. In Milan they smiled and Inter gladly paid 40 million euros to get hold of our protagonist. Antonio Conte, master of boosting lanes, was waiting for him. And the progression continued. Key to achieving Scudetto along with Lukaku and Lautaro with his seven goals and ten assists, numbers that do justice to his offensive mentality. This played a trick on him when his stage at the Meazza dawned.

Reunion

Conte came to seat him in a game as a wake-up call and just at that time came his first opportunity to face ‘his’ Real Madrid. November 3, 2020. Santiago Bernabéu. That stadium in which he dreamed of succeeding, as he admitted to this newspaper when he was still playing for Borussia Dortmund: “I’m not going to lie to you, of course I would like to succeed there. I have grown up in Madrid, it is my home and I would like to grow up there“.

Opportunity to show his departure as a mistake, he appeared in the defeat photo neroazurra. A poisoned transfer to Handanovic was caught by Benzema, clever as usual, to score the first goal of the shock. Inter played what they wanted that day, but Madrid won (3-2). Who knows what would have happened without that initial stumble… In the second leg, on November 25, another white victory, this time at the Giuseppe Meazza (0-2). Second chance of revenge that went to limbo.

A galactic signing

Eliminated from the Champions League, Inter grew in Serie A and Achraf with the team. Almost all lights that ended with the final title and the shadow, at the end of the season. The delicate economic situation of Inter put him on the market and PSG did not miss the opportunity. €66.5 million. Galactic signing within the titanic summer that shook the foundations of the continent. Messi, Ramos, Donnarumma, Wijnaldum…, but the one who started shining was Hakimi. However, the team’s defensive weakness began to take its toll on their performance, even privately complaining about the lack of packaging from the rear.

A) Yes He went to the African Cup, where he has once again shown why he is, together with Alphonso Davies, the most valuable full-back on the planet (70 million euros for Transfermarkt). Member of the best XI of the tournament, he showed that, if there is a free kick against Madrid, he will not shake his boot to take it. Once back, you will have a new opportunity to settle your pending account. Now he would have a place in a Madrid where Lucas has become an improvised side later than expected. However, in football, the timing is everything and the puzzle never fit. While some yearn for ‘there are no two without three’, Achraf will look for the third to be, finally, the charm…