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Morocco won't make 'anti-Mbappe plan' but Hakimi is 'highly motivated to beat his friend', says Regragui

Kylian Mbappe is the top scorer at World Cup 2022 but Walid Regragui insists that Morocco do not have a specific plan to counter the France star.

France to take on Morocco
Hakimi will face Mbappe
Duo are PSG team-mates

WHAT HAPPENED? The Morocco boss has warned his players that they will have to deal with much more than just the threat of Mbappe ahead of their World Cup semi-final against defending champions France. Regragui has, however, also admitted that Mbappe's Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Achraf Hakimi is relishing the contest against his good friend.

WHAT THEY SAID: "We won’t make an anti-Mbappé plan because unfortunately, there isn’t just him. When we know the level of Antoine Griezmann between the lines… but Hakimi is a big champion so I’m not worried,” he said at a pre-match press conference. "They [Hakimi and Mbappe] are two champions, who won’t be giving away any gifts. Achraf is highly motivated to beat his friend."

THE BIGGER PICTURE: The contest between the two PSG players will be a highlight of Wednesday's eagerly-anticipated showdown. Mbappe predicted a France vs Morocco World Cup semi-final back in January when he was with Hakimi touring Qatar, saying he would "destroy" the defender and seemed thrilled when Hakimi's cheeky penalty knocked out Spain and secured Morocco a place in the quarter-finals.

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