Achraf Hakimi confronted match officials and 'ranted' at Gianni Infantino after World Cup defeat, FIFA allegedly wanted footage deleted

Achraf Hakimi confronted FIFA president Gianni Infantino and the World Cup organisers are allegedly attempting to stop the footage from surfacing, according to stunning reports.

Goals from Josko Gvardiol and Mislav Orsic ensured a 2-0 victory for Croatia in their third-place World Cup playoff against Hakimi’s Morocco side on Saturday.

Morocco fell short of capturing a bronze medal at the Khalifa International Stadium, despite stunning the world with their sensational run to the World Cup semi-finals.

Hakimi, who has been hailed for his sensational form in Qatar, was not happy with the match officials and Infantino after the Atlas Lions’ defeat.

Morocco saw a penalty ruled out after a handball appeal on Youssef En-Nesyri’s header hitting Bruno Petkovic, but replays showed the ball hit the player’s back.

Hakimi was also brought down by a challenge from Petkovic, but referee Abdulrahman Al-Jassim waved play on and didn’t book the Croatia striker.

Footage has since emerged of Hakimi confronting match officials after Croatia’s win, with Morocco players left unhappy with the decisions made in the contest.

However, beIN SPORTS’ Carrie Brown reports that the 24-year-old Morocco full-back also spoke his mind about the refereeing to FIFA president Infantino, who was preparing to hand out medals to the Croatia players.

According to reports, Hakimi addressed Infantino in a ‘polite and desperate’ fashion over the match officials in Morocco’s defeat.

Brown added that the Paris Saint-Germain star’s Morocco teammates ‘walked him away’ after he ‘pleaded’ with Infantino.

SVT Sport reporter Johan Kucukaslan claimed that FIFA wanted to “delete the images” and erase the “embarrassing scenes” from Hakimi and Infantino exchange.

“They wanted us to delete the images. It is clear that these are embarrassing scenes for them, and it is a bit naive of them to think that a dozen journalists should not report on this when we witness it happening,” he told SVT Sport.

As per NOS, TV presenter Tom Egbers added: “He stood in front of Infantino, less than five centimetres.

“With a raised voice, he ranted to Infantino about the referee. It was painful.”

Speaking to reporters, Hakimi insisted that “nothing happened” in his confrontation with Infantino and admitted he was “angry” after the World Cup match.

Featured Image Credit: Twitter/YouTube

Topics: Achraf Hakimi, Morocco, Football World Cup, Gianni Infantino, FIFA, Football, Croatia

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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