With club season in top European leagues at an end, a number of FC Barcelona players are performing duties with their national teams. One such player who is still awaiting going on vacation because of his national team duties is Ez Abde.
The player has been a part of the U23 Morocco camp for the last few weeks as his team was competing in the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations. However, the player and his team have now bid farewell to this tournament after coming out as the winners.
As reported by SPORT, Abde was the undisputed leader of his team, as they beat Egypt in the final, a match that went on to the last minutes of extra time. The Egyptians took the lead early in the match, but Abde’s team equalized at the 37th minute with a strike from El Khannouss.
The game was tied at half-time and remained so at the full-time whistle, thus taking the match to extra time. It was only in the last minutes of this extra time that Morocco took the lead, and went on to win the cup in Stade Moulay Abdallah in Rabat.
Abde, wearing the captain’s armband, led his team to victory in the final while being the tournament’s top goal scorer (3 goals) and assist provider (3 assists), earning him the coveted title of Most Valuable Player (MVP).
In addition to Abde, Chadi Riad was also a part of the Morocco squad, and thus two players from FC Barcelona took the winner’s medal in this youth tournament.
Now Abde will return to Barcelona and go into the pre-season with Xavi. He will have to impress Xavi and showcase his talents in order to convince him of an important responsibility in the squad. His last season on loan at Osasuna was a highly successful one, as he was an integral part of the team that reached the Copa del Rey final, only to be defeated by Real Madrid.
