Neil El Aynaoui has emerged as a key pillar in Morocco’s midfield at this Africa Cup of Nations, playing every single minute so far and heading into the home final with a new international status at just 24.
He has completed five full matches plus 120 gruelling minutes against Nigeria, calmly scoring the decisive penalty that sent the Atlas Lions through to Sunday’s showpiece in Rabat.
Italian daily Corriere dello Sport now hails him as one of the main revelations of the tournament, praising the precision of his interventions. Coach Walid Regragui has reinforced that image by linking Neil’s mentality to that of his father, former tennis star Younes El Aynaoui, whose fighting spirit on court serves as a reference point for his son’s style of play.
Despite the growing spotlight, Neil remains measured before facing Senegal, stressing how much the title would mean to Moroccan fans while acknowledging the high standards required against a squad full of world-class players.
At AS Roma, coach Gian Piero Gasperini is expected to view him differently on his return, after the club invested 25 million euros in a player whose AFCON performances could reshape his role for the rest of the season.
More than twenty years after Younes’s epic Australian Open quarter-final against Andy Roddick, Neil now has the chance to write a new family chapter with a major continental trophy on home soil.
