After Wydad Casablanca’s victory in the Champions League final, 2-0 against Al Ahly on Monday May 30, coach Walid Regragui does not want to stop there. At Wydad Casablanca for a year, the former Moroccan international, who notably played in France, hopes to win the championship and the Throne Cup for a historic treble. Maintenance.
RFI: How do you feel after this magnificent run in the Champions League and this victory in the final?
Walid Regragui: Our victory is a great event for the club, the country! Everyone knows the fervor there is in Morocco for football, the importance of this sport for Moroccans. In clubs, like Raja and Wydad in Casablanca, there is a fervor and a pressure that I have rarely even seen in Europe. So there was a lot of expectation, and luckily we won, moreover at home, in our stadium, it was important to win. Public support helped us win this third star in the Champions League.
Your audience sings a lot, the stands were packed, so you equaled the number of wins of your best opponent, Raja Casablanca. Is it a great success?
Raja is a historical rival, it is on a daily basis here that Rajaouis and Wydadis disagree on the number of titles. We have many more Champions titles but the Rajaouis teased us about the number of African Champions Cups. The anomaly has been fixed, we have just matched them! We are at the same level on the African level.
During the match, two players stood out, double scorer Zouheir Moutaraji, and goalkeeper Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti, your “Thibault Courtois”. What is your feeling ?
We knew that to achieve the feat, it was already necessary to have a lot of success on the slightest occasion, and like at Real Madrid a great goalkeeper. And ours, Reda who is international, chose his day well to be at his best. He allowed us to stay in the game, not to doubt. To win titles, you always need a great striker and a great goalkeeper, that’s what happened in the final.
Double striker Zouheir El-Moutaraji had a complicated rise, how did you bring him to his best level?
He is a child of the club, one of the most talented players in Morocco, for a long time. I wanted to get him back when I was working at FUS Rabat, because he didn’t play much at Wydad then. He is a character player who needs to be given confidence. And I played on it. He suffered muscle injuries this season, it didn’t help us in the league, but he came back at the right time. Like all talented players, he needs love and trust and that’s what I managed to give him, maybe he felt it. I gave him more playing time than in previous years. There’s a lot of competition at Wydad, but I gave him playing time, insisted he play, and he gave it back in the most important game. We did well to get him back because he deserves it. With the public he also had a lot of problems last year. He was a bit “persona non grata”. What better than a double in the Champions League final in front of his audience to be rehabilitated in the club.
Wydad’s way of playing was interesting, the ball outings, the side ups. What are your game precepts, installed in such a short time?
I would have liked us to play much better, to have more possession, Al Ahly put us in difficulty in the final. In fact, I adapted to what I had, because in a club like Wydad, the result matters more than the manner, and this every weekend. Which is not easy for a coach. In addition, we had problems at the club this season, we had a lot of injured players, we were banned from recruiting by FIFA and we lost important players because we had financial worries. So I left for something else to set up a game identity: the notion of group, the notion of team block and “grinta”, of fighting on all the balls and the players accepted it, agreed not to not have the ball. And when you have the support of all the players, it’s much better than any tactical choice. It helps a coach and on arrival, in Europe we had the example of Real Madrid, when there is a good group, when everyone believes in the project, we are able to knock down mountains and we are Champions.
Your title is very fresh but on the horizon, an unprecedented triple Champions League-Championship-Throne Cup is reaching out to you. How do you see the sequel?
Unfortunately or fortunately in these big clubs we always want to win more, the fans ask for it, and despite the difficulties this season, we have to fight on all fronts. Now Raja will do everything to prevent us from achieving this historic treble. Against them, we have 2 important matches, in the Cup then the derby in the league where the Botola will undoubtedly be played. We are 4 points ahead. Nothing is played. We will already have to digest this victory, move on. And that’s my job and that of the staff, to put the heads in the place to meet these 2 challenges. It won’t be easy because our historical adversary will prevent us from achieving it. We will try but it will be difficult.
There will also be Real Madrid perhaps on your way to the Club World Cup at the end of the year. Is it a nice challenge?
It’s too far to be able to plan ahead, but it’s good for the club, for Morocco, and for the players, it’s always a reward to be able to rub shoulders with teams from other continents, to represent Africa. To be more internationally respected. We will have to send a message: that African clubs have structured themselves and have competent coaches with players who are progressing.