Moroccan Star Achraf Hakimi Named Serie A’s Best Defender for 2020/2021 Season

Achraf Hakimi won the award for best defender in the 2020/2021 Serie A championship. "I am very happy to have won this award and especially to have won the Italian championship," he said to FCInterNews. I am proud of this award and of the people who voted for me. I already knew that I could do well in attack." The Moroccan international also expressed his gratitude to his former coach Antonio Conte. "I improved defensively under Antonio Conte at Inter," he said. The Moroccan right-back had won the scudetto with Inter Milan.

The former Italian coach also often has the habit of praising Achraf Hakimi. "I remember the two matches last year against Real Madrid (two defeats 3-2 and 0-2), and in particular the mistake he had made in Valdebebas. From that moment on, he worked a lot. [...] Now that he is in one of the strongest teams in the world, he can become a crack. He has improved on the defensive aspect, but also in the final pass," Antonio Conte said in 2021.