Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: Football, Football World Cup, Spain
Alexander Duke
Morocco will take on Spain in a mouth-watering round of 16 match at the World Cup on Tuesday.
Spain reached the first knockout round after qualifying second in Group E, whilst Morocco topped Group F with an impressive seven points.
Morocco's strong performances in the group stage included a shock win over 2018 World Cup semi-finalists Belgium. Meanwhile, Spain thrashed Costa Rica 7-0 and qualified despite a loss to Japan in the final game.
They will face each other at the Education City Stadium in Qatar. Morocco will be looking to progress past the round of 16 for the first time, with Spain aiming to reach their first quarter final since 2010, when they went on to win the all-important trophy.
Fernando Rapallini is taking charge of this round of 16 match and made his World Cup refereeing debut in Qatar. At club level, Rapallini referees in the Argentine Primera Division and became a FIFA referee in 2014. He took charge of his first international match back in 2015, in a game between Chile and El Salvador.
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Rapallini gained international attention after becoming the first South American referee to officiate at a European Championship, during EURO 2020. He took charge of a number of games, including Ukraine vs North Macedonia, Croatia vs Scotland and France vs Switzerland.
This is Rapallini's third game officiating in this World Cup, having previously overseen Morocco vs Croatia in Group F and Serbia vs Switzerland in Group G.
Morocco vs Croatia was a 0-0 draw, whilst Serbia Switzerland was an entertaining 3-2 Switzerland win, during which Rapallini dished out 11 yellow cards.
Assistant Referees: Juan Pablo Belatti and Diego Bonfa (Both Argentina)
Fourth Official: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
VAR: Mauro Vigilano (Argentina) and Nicola Gallo (Colombia)