Morocco wasted no time reminding Comoros who owned the spotlight, as Ayoub El Kaabi’s outrageous overhead kick powered the AFCON hosts to a comfortable 2-0 opening victory on Sunday.

Brahim Diaz had already cracked open the visitors before El Kaabi delivered a goal-of-the-tournament contender, underlining Morocco’s intent as Comoros were left chasing shadows.

Comoros were handed an early lifeline when Iyad Mohamed clumsily fouled Diaz in the box just 11 minutes in, but Yannick Pandor brilliantly kept out Soufiane Rahimi’s penalty.

Morocco dominated the first half without further reward, but needed only 10 minutes after the restart to break Comoros’ resistance finally; Diaz was given acres of space and calmly swept Noussair Mazraoui’s cutback into the net.

Comoros tried to respond, with Rafiki Said leading a rare counter-attack, but his tame effort was straight at Yassine Bounou, summing up their blunt attacking display.

Pandor briefly kept Comoros alive with a sensational double save, denying Mazraoui before scrambling up to punch away Jawad El Yamiq’s follow-up.

Any lingering hope was crushed when substitute El Kaabi combined neatly with Anass Salah-Eddine before unleashing an unstoppable bicycle kick, sealing a statement win and leaving Comoros admiring the damage.

Morocco has now won 10 of their last 12 AFCON group games, a run stretching back to 2017, reinforcing their dominance on the continental stage.

Diaz, their top scorer in qualifying, continued his fine form, scoring and winning a penalty—though the latter went begging.

Yet it was El Kaabi who stole the show, scoring with his only shot. His spectacular finish carried just 0.17 xG, as Morocco racked up 2.0 overall to Comoros’ meek 0.3 from four shots.