Last week, the Atlas Lions lost to Portugal in their second World Cup game. Ranked last in Group B with 0 points, the national team is to face Spain, Monday, in an attempt to save face. Morocco national football team is facing Spain Monday, 25th of June, in Arena Baltika, Russia. Although the Atlas Lions have been disqualified by Portugal last week, they are determined to fight in front of La Roja but this time to save face. Defeated by Iran on June the 15th in Saint Petersburg, the Moroccan team was kicked out from the international tournament by Cristiano Ronaldo's header in Moscow after an excellent game for the Lions. According to FIFA, Morocco's chances of winning the game against the Spanish team are limited to 10%. 69% have predicted that the red team would win while 20% others went for a draw. FIFA recalls that the two teams «have faced other just twice before», referring to «a two-legged qualification play-off World Cup 1962 with Spain winning 1-0 away and 3-2 at home». It also indicates that «Spain have won three of their four World Cup matches against African opponents (L1), scoring 11 goals and never that two per game». Meanwhile, FIFA said that «Morocco have lost just one of their last four final group stage matches (W2 D1), wining 3-0 against Scotland in 1998- their most recent World Cup». One last match before returning to Morocco To save face, the national team should score against the team that managed to score three goals against Portugal (3-3) before beating Iran (1-0). To win the game, Coach Hervé Renard relies on four defenders, four midfielders, and two strikers, according to Spanish media La Nacion. The latter announced that Khalid Boutaib, Amine Harit, Mbarek Boussoufa, karim Al Ahmadi, Younes Belhanda, Hakim Ziyech, Nabil Dirar, Medhi Benatia, Manuel DaCosta and Nordin Amrabat are participating to today's game. On the other hand, Spain is not taking the Atlas Lions for granted. «We know it is going to be a tough match, always when you play against teams who are eliminated you don't know what they are going to do – it could be a big surprise», said Hierro in a pre-match press conference.
