Morocco's Brahim Díaz is the Africa Cup star thriving away from Real Madrid's turmoil

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Real Madrid can look forward to getting what will look like a new signing when a reinvigorated Brahim Díaz returns from the Africa Cup of Nations.

Brahim has emerged as the star of the tournament, where the Morocco No. 10 is the top-scorer with five so far.

The 26-year-old Brahim may yet lead the host team to victory in Sunday’s final against Senegal, when the Atlas Lions will hope to end a 50-year wait for just their second Africa Cup title.

Few could have foreseen the impact he has had for Morocco given how little he's featured for Real Madrid this season.

Brahim started only four games in La Liga and the Champions League under former Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, who gave him 14 substitute appearances.

He has started all six for Morocco and scored in almost all of them. Brahim managed the remarkable feat of scoring in each of Morocco’s first five games. It was only in the semifinal against Nigeria – when nobody scored before the penalty shootout – that Brahim’s scoring streak ended.

Morocco coach Walid Regragui suggested Brahim’s mentality has changed since he joined the squad.

“It has changed a lot since he came. He came, of course, with a lot of desire, with many people waiting for him to make a big difference,” Regragui said on Saturday. “Now he understands that he is one more (player) in the team. Of course, he is an X-factor for us, someone who can score in every play, but what is more important for us is how he runs for the team and how he drives this offensive style we want.”

Brahim has eight shots on target, more than any other Moroccan player at the tournament. If he scores again on Sunday he will join Ahmed Faras as Morocco’s joint-top scorer at an Africa Cup with six. Faras, the 1975 African footballer of the year, is the country’s all-time top scorer with 36.

“He didn’t score in the last game but he was one of the happiest,” Regragui said. “He’s proud to play for Morocco.”

Regragui remembered approaching Brahim with the president of the Moroccan Football Federation, Fouzi Lekjaa, in January 2023 and convincing the young forward to play for Morocco. Spanish-born Brahim has a Moroccan father and Spanish mother. Brahim played for Spain youth teams and once for the senior team.

“The truth is I didn’t lie to him when I told him that here he will have people who will love him for life and that if he dies for the team, for the fans, they will never forget him, and that he can win titles too, he can play in the World Cup,” Regragui said. “That’s what’s happening to him now and I’m very happy.”

The coach said he was happy with Brahim’s attitude and happy that he will return to Madrid having had much more playing time than he likely would have received in the Spanish capital.

Brahim will be returning to a different environment after Madrid fired Alonso, replacing him with his former teammate Álvaro Arbeloa.

“I’m sure he’s going to compete to win his place,” Regragui said of Brahim. “But now he has to finish the job tomorrow, as that’s what’s important for him and for us.”

AP at the Africa Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-cup-of-nations

Morocco's Brahim Abdelkader Díaz celebrates after the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal soccer match between Cameroon and Morocco, in Rabat, Morocco, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Morocco's Brahim Abdelkader Díaz celebrates after the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal soccer match between Cameroon and Morocco, in Rabat, Morocco, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Morocco's Brahim Abdelkader Díaz celebrates after the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal soccer match between Cameroon and Morocco, in Rabat, Morocco, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Morocco's Brahim Abdelkader Díaz celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal soccer match between Cameroon and Morocco, in Rabat, Morocco, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Morocco's Brahim Abdelkader Díaz celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal soccer match between Cameroon and Morocco, in Rabat, Morocco, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

BERLIN (AP) — Europeans were reeling Sunday from U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement that eight countries will face 10% tariff for opposing American control of Greenland.

The responses to Trump's decision on Saturday ranged from saying it risked “a dangerous downward spiral” to predicting that “China and Russia must be having a field day.”

Trump's threat sets up a potentially dangerous test of U.S. partnerships in Europe. Several European countries have sent troops to Greenland in recent days, saying they are there for Arctic security training. Trump's announcement came Saturday as thousands of Greenlanders were wrapping up a protest outside the U.S. Consulate in the capital, Nuuk.

The Republican president appeared to indicate that he was using the tariffs as leverage to force talks with Denmark and other European countries over the status of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark that he regards as critical to U.S. national security. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland would face the tariff.

There are immediate questions about how the White House could try to implement the tariffs because the EU is a single economic zone in terms of trading, according to a European diplomat who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. It was unclear, too, how Trump could act under U.S. law, though he could cite emergency economic powers that are currently subject to a U.S. Supreme Court challenge.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said China and Russia will benefit from the divisions between the U.S. and the Europe. She added in a post on social media: “If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO. Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity."

Trump's move also was panned domestically.

U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, a former U.S. Navy pilot and Democrat who represents Arizona, posted that Trump’s threatened tariffs on U.S. allies would make Americans “pay more to try to get territory we don’t need.”

“Troops from European countries are arriving in Greenland to defend the territory from us. Let that sink in,” he wrote on social media. “The damage this President is doing to our reputation and our relationships is growing, making us less safe. If something doesn’t change we will be on our own with adversaries and enemies in every direction.”

Norway and the U.K. are not part of the 27-member EU, which operates as a single economic zone in terms of trading. It was not immediately clear if Trump's tariffs would impact the entire bloc. EU envoys scheduled emergency talks for Sunday evening to determine a potential response.

António Costa, president of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, pledged to continue their full solidarity with Denmark and Greenland.

“Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty,” they wrote in a joint statement late Saturday.

Jordan Bardella, president of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party in France and also a European Parliament lawmaker, posted that the EU should suspend last year's tariff deal with the U.S., describing Trump’s threats as “commercial blackmail.”

The foreign ministers of Denmark and Norway are also expected to address the crisis Sunday in Oslo during a news conference.

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Leicester reported from Paris and Cook from Brussels. Associated Press writer Josh Boak in West Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.

A crowd walks to the US consulate to protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A boy holds a crossed out map of Greenland topped by a hairpiece symbolizing U.S. President Donald Trump, during a protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in front of the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

People protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in front of the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)