Abdul Msaore works hard to serve a portion of chicken with vegetables to Fátima in his restaurant El Rincón del Raval on calle Sant Pau, while smiling and diplomatically he murmurs that "if Spain wins today, I will be happy, but much more if Morocco wins". . This is the discourse that many members of the Moroccan community in Catalonia repeat. “We have two loves, but it's better if the Morocco party wins. It would be a historic event, the first time our country has reached the quarterfinals. Although we must accept that football is just a game, a ball, nothing more... The most important thing is that there are no fights. I will not go out on the street for safety, we will watch the game at home with the children, ”says Hajar, in the Paloma Blanca bakery on Hospital street.
Hajar arrived in Barcelona from Tangier 20 years ago, now he is 36. His two sons and his daughter were born here. The three of them will wear the Moroccan team jersey today in front of the TV. Next to Hajar, her partner Omaima, from Tetuán, goes in and out of the workshop with loaves of bread and sweets for her clients. She tells that she is not a big fan, but that she will follow the meeting through the mobile phone in the bakery. “Morocco is going to win, and Hakim Ziyech will score a goal,” she predicts.
In front of the White Dove, in the Arab Bazaar, Jamal, the shop assistant, says that yesterday morning they sold out all the Moroccan flags. In this store they have everything. Tea sets, clay pots, blankets, striking tunics... but what they ask for the most these days are the banners of their country. Mohamed Elgabri, a former Second Division B striker at Sabadell, according to his account, is one of the buyers who has to settle for a pennant. “Tomorrow (for today) we will follow the game at home, with the family; my two children play with the Mountaineer. We will celebrate the victory with a cake and mint tea to lower the tension”, comments Mohamed, convinced of Morocco's success.
Another former soccer player, in this case from a club in Tetouan and now a resident of Barcelona, Mohamed Benissarazak, explains behind the counter of the Mercado Árabe butcher shop that today he will follow the World Cup from this halal product store, also on Hospital street. At four o'clock they will be calm, it is an hour in which there is little work. "I want Morocco to win, and my son Mustafá goes with Spain," says Mohamed, very excited. For Hind, one of the clients, what worries her the most is not the result. All the women consulted affirm that their greatest concern is that there are no altercations like those registered in Brussels after the victory of Morocco against Belgium by two to zero. The riots were repeated in the Dutch cities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam. "I'm afraid there will be a mess, we will stay at home," says Hind, while she assures that she has a divided heart. “I think that a victory for Morocco can have a more positive impact – he considers -; every time I go back to Tangier I see more poverty”.
Abdul expects his Raval restaurant to be full this afternoon. “We have about 37 seated places, but many more come with the games. Soccer is the national sport, in fact we follow the Spanish league more than the Moroccan one ”, he points out. In El Rincón del Raval they serve Moroccan specialties as well as local ones. Couscous on Fridays coexists with paella, grilled fish and mint tea. This place is a meeting point for the Moroccan community. Fatima assures that she does not care who wins, that the only thing she asks is that no fans get out of hand. “I am following the World Cup because Morocco is making history, there are many women who follow it. At school, in Tetouan, I already played football and when I arrived in Barcelona I spent three months with a team from a Trinitat Nova association ”, Fátima details while giving an account of his love.
At another table, Amín Amanar, a member of Ibn Battuta, a foundation that supports migrants, mainly those of Moroccan origin, answers as diplomatically as Abdul that he will be happy if Spain wins, but, of course, a little or much more if Morocco passes. to the quarterfinals.
Without dissembling, Adil Abbaq, a 21-year-old boy who arrived in Barcelona as a minor and who spent eight months in a temporary reception center, declares that if he had to bet, he would play it 2-0 or 3-1 in favor from Morocco: “We are at the gates of 2023, it is time for things to change”.
