Morocco’s Medhi Benatia Signals Potential Retirement from National Team

The absence of player Medhi Benatia from the last two national team confrontations is causing many analyses. The defender has also not been called up by the national team coach for the next two friendly matches of the Atlas Lions, on October 11 against Libya, and on the 15th against Gabon.

The newspaper Assabah reports that the defender himself had asked the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) not to call him up for the next two matches.

Everything suggests that the captain is thus indirectly announcing his international retirement. Medhi Benatia is seriously considering taking it, even though he is only 32 years old, an anonymous source told Assabah.

At this age, Medhi Benatia can still make his fans dream. Is this supposed willingness to definitively turn his back on the national team related to his contract with the Qatari club Al Duhail? Does he simply want to take a break from the national team?

Unexpectedly, Benatia had announced in 2017 that he would take a break from the Moroccan team, which was competing for World Cup qualification, in favor of his club. It remains to be seen whether he would adopt the same attitude with Vahid Halilhodzic, known for his rigor and firmness.