"Brahim Diaz, the Real Madrid footballer who was on Luis de la Fuente's preliminary list for the Spanish national team friendlies in March against Colombia and Brazil, has decided to play as a full international for Morocco, the country of his paternal grandmother.

The interest shown by the Moroccan Federation and the calls from their coach, Walid Regragui, have finally convinced Brahim, who has been contemplating his decision for months and has made up his mind five days before being called up by Spain, as revealed by Marca.

Brahim came through the youth ranks of Spain and even made his debut for the senior team, scoring, in the match where the under-21s faced Lithuania in Leganés on June 8, 2021, due to Sergio Busquets' positive coronavirus test which left the team quarantined under the then-coach Luis Enrique.

The Asturian coach called up Brahim on November 5, 2021, when he was playing for AC Milan, for the last two World Cup 2022 qualifying matches against Greece and Sweden, but he didn't get any minutes. Since then, the Malaga-born midfielder hasn't been called up again.

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"I won't go with the first one who calls me, it's not like that. I'm focused on Madrid where I'm getting few minutes and I want to have more," Brahim assured the last time he was asked about his situation, last November, after a match with Real Madrid.

Carlo Ancelotti, Brahim's coach at Madrid, said after the thrashing of Celta that he was unaware of the player's decision. "I don't know, I don't get into that. Spain has a lot of very good players, it's not so easy to make a call-up. I don't know what Brahim will decide," he said. Real Madrid, like their coach, was not aware that Brahim was among those chosen for Luis de la Fuente's upcoming squad list, which will be made public on Friday."