Spanish newspaper Marca has lavished praise on Brahim Diaz for his stunning performances with Morocco at AFCON 2025, calling him the real “Lion King” of Africa after he led the Atlas Lions into the semi-finals by knocking out Cameroon.
The Madrid-based daily wrote that the Real Madrid star “did it again”, scoring his fifth goal in five consecutive matches, and stressed that Morocco have been superior both technically and tactically, boasting some of the continent’s best players, with Diaz described as “the most decisive player in the tournament”.
Backed by statistics, Marca highlighted that the Malaga-born playmaker is the competition’s top scorer with 5 goals, two more than his closest rivals, and the only player to have scored in all five of his games despite being substituted in each of them, including late on against Cameroon.
Historically, the paper noted that no one has managed 5 goals in their first 5 AFCON matches since 1968, adding that Diaz is on course to become the first Moroccan ever to win the Golden Boot outright, after previous Moroccan top scorers always shared the award.
Marca concluded that Diaz faced a real “war” on the pitch versus Cameroon, suffering numerous fouls aimed at stopping him, yet still stood out as Morocco’s main pillar and the key to their deserved progress toward the long-awaited title.
