The captain of the Fennecs believes that he is one of the main responsible for the catastrophic course of his team during this CAN 2023.
The 2023 African Cup of Nations will go down in the history of Algerian football as a huge fiasco. The Fennecs were miserably eliminated in the group stage, finishing in last place in their group, after a defeat (0-1) against Mauritania.
Questioned by the Algerian press upon his return to the country, Riyad Mahrez conceded that the players were mainly responsible for this failure. “Me first, and I put everyone in.” We have not been up to par over the last 2-3 years and we are paying for it. We are disappointed and very sad for the Algerian supporters and our families, because it is for the people that we play. We are very touched and we hope that things will bounce back with a new coach. I don’t know what my goal will be, my head is upside down. It’s not easy to come out of such a failure.”declared the former Manchester City player in the columns of The Gazette du Fennec.
#Mahrez : “We have a lot of young and good players, but that’s not what will make us win CANs, we fell for a long period, this is not the time to talk about my responsibility with the selection, the “The most important thing is the team.”#Algeria 🇩🇿 ❤️ 💯 pic.twitter.com/suxYREzqPg
— FARID BOUSSALEM (@faridmca1921) January 25, 2024
Like Djamel Belmadi, Riyad Mahrez was quick to criticize the local press. “A lot of journalists are against us, they don’t put positive pressure. But hey, that’s not the excuse. But I find it unfortunate that there is such media pressure around us. It’s not like we’ve won ten African Cups and we’re the favorites all the time.”regretted the native of Sarcelles, refusing to discuss his future in the selection.
