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After a slow start to his season Noussair Mazraoui is back in the picture for Ajax ánd Morocco. Mazraoui is ready to showcase his talents once again. Freek Jansen of the AD spoke with him.
In the first few months of this season Mazraoui hardly played for Ajax. He picked up an injury early on and his replacement, Sergiño Dest, impressed in his place. ‘That’s the way football works’, says the right back, who celebrates his 22nd birthday today. ‘Other players take their chances and then all kinds of conclusions are drawn. That did surprise me. I read that Sergiño Dest had won the competition. While I hadn’t even started the competition at all. If you’re not there for a while, people quickly forget who you are and what you can do. At least, that’s the way it seems to be.’
Mazraoui is ready to fight for a starting spot, however. In the last three games he started and made a good impression. ‘In my opinion, my season has only just really begun. I want to continue last year’s form, be important for the team again and have great moments. The match against Chelsea was certainly good for me personally. I really needed that.’
His focus now is on Morocco who have called him up for matches versus Mauritania and Burundi. These games are qualifiers for the Africa Cup where Morocco is one of the favorites but Mazraoui won’t get complacent. ‘Make no mistake, these aren’t easy games’, says Mazraoui. ‘You never see big results in Africa either. That’s because every team can play very defensively, defend hard and then there’s the circumstances. The heat, bad fields, fighting football. Actually exactly as you would imagine playing in Burundi.’
After the international break the remaining games in the Champions League are top priority. ‘In the competition we’re up a lot of points, that’s really new. It’s due to the competition, but most of all it’s thanks to us. We’ve kept going in the flow of last season. Good players have left, but other guys have stood up. I also quickly had the feeling that last season was not a one-off. Every day I feel the drive around me that we want to continue writing history. And fortunately I am now an active part of that myself. I have had enough rest for this season.’