Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Romain Saiss has detailed what he and his teammates saw during a recent military coup.
The Wolves man is currently on international duty with Morocco, who were due to take on Guinea in a World Cup qualifier on Monday.
They had travelled to the country for the clash but were quickly evacuated out after an attempted military coup took place in the capital Conakry on Sunday.
FIFA and its African counterpart Caf postponed the game after hours of heavy gunfire near the presidential palace, with Morocco’s team aware of this as they were trapped in a hotel in Conakry.
They were later given an escort to the airport and flew out late on Sunday after being given special dispensation to leave the country.
As it is easy to imagine, the whole ordeal was a fairly traumatic one for those involved, with Morocco coach Vahid Halilhodzic admitting some were worried by the situation.
Saiss has now detailed his own experience, and it’s fair to say it’s easy to see why the Wolves player and his teammates were concerned.
“All day long, we saw cars full of armed soldiers below our hotel, it was not war, but almost,” the Wolves man told L’Equipe.
“We heard gunshots; some players thought it was fireworks. Then we were told again that there was a coup d’état by special forces. We really became aware of the situation.
“From our windows, we could see soldiers running with some kind of gun. We thought we were in Call of Duty.”
