El Kaabi, Rahimi and the Moroccan masters putting on a show across the globe

It had been a humid, sapping evening for the best national team from Africa and the Arab world. They were trailing in San Pedro, Morocco’s coastal base in Ivory Coast for the Africa Cup of Nations, and by the end of the night they were out of the tournament, shell-shocked.

They had missed a penalty, had a man sent off and finished 2-0 losers to an unfancied South Africa at the first knockout hurdle. They headed home bemoaning their lack of firepower up front.

That was late January, a low point in Moroccan football’s two years of gathering belief and swagger across the international stage, a climb that reached the semi-finals of the last World Cup. As the club season comes to its close, Morocco's finest are again putting on a show of impressive firepower across the globe.

It is led by Soufiane Rahimi, Al Ain’s favourite Casablancan, showered with applause for his outstanding impact on an Asian Champions League that had Cristiano Ronaldo among its supporting cast.

This weekend, Rahimi’s compatriot, the winger Oussama Idrissi will contest the final of North and Central America’s equivalent competition, a Concacaf Champions Cup that included Lionel Messi up to its quarter-finals.

In Europe’s most prestigious club tournaments, a pair of Atlas Lions meanwhile stand 90 minutes from a trophy lift. At Wembley on Saturday, Brahim Diaz chases a Uefa Champions League to complement his Liga title with Real Madrid. In Athens on Wednesday, Ayoub El Kaabi brings down the curtain on a gilded run of form.

El Kaabi will be leading the line for Olympiakos in a city where the club’s support is concentrated in the final of the Europa Conference League, against Italy’s Fiorentina. It will be El Kaabi’s 17th start in Uefa competition this term;