“Morocco have no striker crisis” – Mustapha Hadji backs Ouahbi’s Barcelona-style tactics

Moroccan football legend Mustapha Hadji insists the Atlas Lions are not facing a striker crisis, backing head coach Mohamed Ouahbi’s tactical approach of using a false nine rather than relying traditional centre-forward.

Hadji believes Morocco have enough attacking options to fill the role, explaining that Ouahbi’s decision to deploy Ismail Saibari as the central attacker is a tactical choice designed to maximise the team’s strengths.

Saibari, who is naturally an attacking midfielder, impressed when deployed in a more advanced role for Morocco at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, emerging as one of the team’s standout performers despite not being a conventional striker.

The former Moroccan international argues that the national team has promising young forwards who can also contribute in attack, pointing to Yasser Al-Zabiri as one of the available options.

“We have young attacking options who shone in the Youth World Cup, including Yasser Al-Zabiri, who plays in the Spanish League, and I don’t see that there is a crisis in this position for the Moroccan national team,” Hadji said in an interview with Kooora.

Although Saibari led the attack during the World Cup, Hadji stressed that Wahbi’s ability to adapt his players to different positions gives Morocco greater tactical flexibility.

“It is true that Saibari led the attack in the World Cup, even though he is not a classic striker, but Mohamed Ouahbi can employ his players in more than one way, and he is influenced by Barcelona’s style,” he added.

Hadji drew parallels between Wahbi’s approach and the attacking systems associated with former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola and current coach Hansi Flick, who have used fluid movement and positional rotations to create opportunities in the final third.

“Ouahbi can rely on a false nine, just like Pep Guardiola did with Barcelona in the past, and just like Hansi Flick is doing now,” the Moroccan legend explained.

The false-nine system allows a player who starts centrally to drop into midfield, creating space for wingers and attacking midfielders to exploit. Rather than depending on a conventional striker to lead the line, the approach places greater emphasis on movement, technical ability and interchange between attacking players.

Hadji also highlighted Saibari’s versatility, noting that he can operate as a central attacker, an attacking midfielder or on either wing. Such flexibility provides Ouahbi with different options depending on the opposition and the demands of a particular match.

While the use of a midfielder in a central attacking role may raise questions about Morocco’s traditional striking options, Hadji believes the coach’s tactical flexibility should not be mistaken for a shortage of forwards.

With young talents such as Al-Zabiri also in the picture, Hadji is confident that Morocco have sufficient attacking resources and can continue to develop their approach without being overly concerned about the absence of a conventional centre-forward in the starting line-up.