Mahrez, the pearl stolen from France, and the children of migration

The son of an electrician and a hospital cleaner from the north-western Algerian province of Tlemcen, who emigrated after the bloody war of independence from France, Ryad Mahrez is the most precious pearl that has escaped French football and will lead the Algerian national team in the friendly against Mexico in the Netherlands this Tuesday.

Born in 1991 in a modest neighbourhood in the French city of Sarcelles, his also modest and discreet journey to the top of world football's elite, far from the window dressing offered to the big clubs, allowed the Algerian Football Federation (FAF) to recruit him at a very young age and thus avoid repeating cases like those of Zinedine Zidane or Karim Benzema, also children of Algerian migration.

Quick, and very skilful with the ball at his feet, Mahrez began to stand out at a young age in his hometown team, from which he left at the age of 16 to join Quimper, a fourth division French team that offered him his first salary: 700 euros a month.

Barely a year later, and for the first time under the magnifying glass of PSG and Olympique Lyon scouts, the winger preferred to travel to the city of La Havre, on the Normandy coast, to join the city's reserve team, where he completed a fantastic season that led to the technical staff to sign him up to the first team, a regular in the French second division.

The fortune and decision of new coach Erick Mombaerts, who gave him a starting place at just 20 years of age, marked a turning point in his career: his four goals and six assists in 34 matches in the French second division opened the doors to another equally second-class team, but this time in England: Leicester City, with whom he would reach world football's top table.

Promotion to the Premier League (2014), surprising champion of the English league and best player of the championship and of Africa by the hand of the Italian Claudio Rainieri (2015-2016).
 

By this time, Mahrez had already escaped the French federation. On 10 May 2014, the then Algerian national coach, now at the helm of Morocco, Vahid Halilhodzic, who was well acquainted with the ins and outs of modest French football, called him up for the World Cup pre-selection. 

Two months later, he was to appear before the world at the Mineirao stadium in Belo Horizonte for Algeria's debut against Belgium in the World Cup in Brazil.

There, Algeria not only made it through the first phase in a group that also included Russia and South Korea, but in the last sixteen they put the eventual champions Germany on the ropes, who had to go into extra time to beat Mahrez and his "green foxes".

Now, under the command of Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, he is not only the captain and the symbol of the new footballing Algeria, a very rocky team in defence, well planted in two very tight lines, scarcely scoring but tremendously effective, especially at set-pieces thanks largely to the headquarters glove that Mehrez himself has on his left leg.

He is also the leader of a powerful national team, the result of economic and social migration but also of football, which is made up entirely of players who play in European and Arab leagues-neither of them in the weak Algerian competition-young but struggling in Europe, in which two other "outsiders" stand out: Ramy Bensebaini (Borussia Mönchengladbach) and Ismaël Bennacer (AC Milan).
 

The case of Bennacer is similar to that of Mahrez. Born in the French city of Arles, the son of a Moroccan and an Algerian, the Milan midfielder was also educated in the French second division before making the leap to Arsenal, where he took a discreet step.

Back in the French second division, his good season with FC Tours allowed him to sign for Empoli in Serie B, where he settled down to exploit as an all-rounder in the African Cup of Nations won by Algeria in 2019.

An unblemished championship that allowed "the buffalo" to win a multi-million euro contract in Serie A: AC Milan valued it at 33 million euros.

Bensebaini was born in Algeria, and is not the son of migration like his teammates, like Zidane or Benzemá, but of the dusty streets of his country, smelling of poverty, like Rabah Madjer, considered the best Algerian player of all times.

Born in the city of Constantine and trained at Paradou, one of the modest teams in the Algerian league, the defender also had to train with a small team in a small league, such as the Belgian Lierse SK, and with intermediate clubs such as Montpellier and the Stade de Rennes before moving to the Bundesliga, where he has played a forceful and technical game.

Algeria returned to the competition, like the other African teams, last week after months of hiatus due to the Covid-19 health crisis.

It did so in Austria against another of the continent's great teams, Nigeria, which it defeated in a very dynamic match in which it benefited from the losses of its rival, which was decimated by four cases of coronavirus in its equally very European squad.

Even so, Algeria showed the signs of identity introduced by its new coach, Algerian Djamel Belmadi, and which led to its continental triumph in 2019: defensive solidity, strong pressure, speedy start, solidary play and a very studied strategy to which the Tricolor will have to look for the cracks.