Benatia's decision to temporarily quit playing for the Moroccan national team was very controversial. The 29 year old captain's choice has upset his fans and followers. As media sources reported, members of the Royal Moroccan Federation are also unsatisfied with Benatia. Herve Renard, currently manager of the Moroccan team, defended yesterday 28th of March Benatia in a declaration to Arryadia tv channel. Renard called during his statement the audience to «show respect for Mehdi Benatia because he performed well». Referring to Benatia's performance at the Egypt-Morocco game held during the last CAN, Renard asked Moroccans to review the corner and give it a «Tactical analysis». «There are other things to talk about other than blaming Mr. Benatia. It is easy to criticize a football player who's playing in a big club. However, I have nothing against him». Renard also made it clear that Benatia will be welcomed if he decides to return. L'entraîneur de l'équipe nationale marocaine Hervé Renard demande au public plus de respect pour Mehdi Benatia pic.twitter.com/QOXAOGSheO — Arryadia (@arryadiatv) 28 mars 2017 Quoting Alakhbar newspaper, 360 online newspaper published a declaration that shows the anger of the federation following Benatia's departure : «the Federation ordered to reject negotiations to the defender and to oppose any possibility of his return to the national team.» Mehdi Benatia has published on his twitter that he wants to stay away from the national team. The defender's decision according to his message featured earlier this month that he wants to concentrate on Juventus.
