Hakimi’s Free-Kick Heroics at AFCON Raise Questions About PSG Role

Already a goalscorer on a free kick during the Morocco-Gabon (2-2) group stage match, Achraf Hakimi achieved the same feat against Malawi (2-1), thus allowing his team to advance to the quarter-finals. A 35-meter strike from the Moroccan international in the 70th minute landed in the top corner. "The goal against Gabon was magnificent, the best of my career, but today I was also lucky, with another goal," the 23-year-old player told ESPN. "I don’t know which is the most beautiful, I have to watch them again, but they are difficult to score from that angle." "Sometimes I work on this kind of thing in training, and it works - I can do it very well - so I’m happy when I can do this kind of shot in the game after working on it so much," he added.

After these great performances, Achraf Hakimi imagines himself as a free-kick taker at PSG. "I’ll try to talk to Léo Messi or Neymar," he joked. "In Paris we have a lot of players who can take free kicks, like Messi, Neymar, Sergio Ramos or Kylian Mbappé," he added in a press conference. "I can try but it’s difficult, there is so much talent in this team... Right now I’m mainly focused on helping my national team." At PSG, his teammates he mentioned are in the order of the hierarchy of free-kick takers.