Even before they face Eran Zehavi and Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Premier League, Maccabi Haifa must be careful tomorrow (Wednesday, 20:00) in the second round of the Champions League qualifiers from another scorer who usually celebrates his goals in “Pio Pio”, and he generally wears red and white.
Yusuf al-Arabi (35), a Frenchman who plays for the Moroccan national team (has appeared in its ranks at three African Championships), is the top scorer for Olympiacos in the last three seasons and one of the significant factors in its winning three consecutive championships in Greece, including a 2020 double. Even at his advanced age, he poses a constant threat to the rival gates and Barak Bachar probably spends many hours thinking about how to stop him. He did all this after standing out in his youth in stronger leagues like the French and Spanish.
Al Arabi started his career at Kun in 2008 (promoted to the First Division with her in 2010) and after playing one season in Saudi Arabia ‘El Hilal (winning the Cup with her in 2012 and scoring 12 goals in 21 games), wore the Granada uniform for four seasons ( 2012-2016), was her most valuable acquisition player to date – when he arrived for five million euros and helped her in the struggle for survival.
In the uniform of the Spanish team, Al Arabi scored 46 goals in 137 games (in his last season there he scored 17 goals in 38 games in all competitions), including an unforgettable three goal in 1: 5 over Levante. In the summer of 2016 he left Arabi for Qatari al-Duhail, in the media he finished twice as the king of league goals and bombed a total of 102 goals in 88 games that helped the team win two championships and two trophies. In one memorable game he set a record when he scored six goals in a 0: 8 victory over El Hur in the Star Cup.
Valid with his brother boys
During that time Al Arabi made headlines in France for the wrong reasons. While celebrating the Feast of Sacrifice with his three brothers in the city of Montpellier in June 2017, two boys threw glass bottles at their porch and in response the four attacked them while cursing them, threatening them and forcing them to collect the bottle fragments from their apartment.
Yusuf admitted during the trial that he slapped one of the boys in the face, but denied that he had been beaten that caused him to be injured and bleed. He was subsequently sentenced in 2021 to three years in prison, one of which was in practice and fined 3,000 euros, but did not serve his sentence because he was in Greece.
In addition, the court ruled that the brothers had to pay the victims a total of 13,400 euros in compensation, while the brothers’ lawyer claimed that they acted in self-defense because the bottle fragments could have harmed their children who were in the apartment.
In the summer of 2019 he came to Arabia for Olympiacos and today he serves as one of its captains. Already in the first double season, which he finished with 27 goals in 51 games in all competitions, he impressed with significant goals, such as the one he scored in the 120th minute which ousted Arsenal in the last 32 stage of the Europa League. “I will never forget it,” he said To an Arab About that magical evening in the season when he reached the quarterfinals with his team. “We always believe in ourselves and there is no reason we should not do it again,” he added.
The top scorer in the history of Olympiacos in Europe
Since reaching the White Reds, he has scored 78 goals for the Arabs in 151 games in all competitions, which of course were a decisive factor in the sequence of achievements. He finished the first two seasons as the league’s top scorer and was named player of the year and the last as the top scorer (16), one less than Dutchman Tom van Wirt of Volos in which Boris Kleiman plays.
Al Arabi finished last season with 23 goals in 51 games in all competitions and locked it with an impressive hat-trick in 2: 3 over AK Athens, which secured the title. , Also due to the celebrations of the gates in the movement of shooting.
Due to this, and also in light of the fact that in his three years at the club he became the all-time leading scorer in Europe (16 goals in 37 appearances, averaging 0.43 conquests per game), of course coach Pedro Martinez did not hesitate to require management to extend his contract until June 2024, promising He has a salary of 2 million euros per season, not including bonuses.
Despite his success at Olympiacos, it is not at all certain that we will see Al Arabi in the Moroccan national team at the upcoming World Cup in Qatar, where they will face Croatia, Belgium and Canada at home. The latter, although some commentators in the country are calling for his summons. Al Arabi knows that his good performance in the Champions League may increase the pressure on the Bosnian, and as a result he expects to easily jump over the first hurdle from Israel in the qualifiers.
