The Atlas Lions had been the revelation of this tournament with a string of excellent matches in Qatar – including victories over Belgium, Spain and Portugal – which saw them become the first African team ever to reach the semi-finals.

Their dream of extending that groundbreaking run even further was extinguished by a 2-0 defeat to France, but Ziyech and his international colleagues have every reason to leave Qatar with their heads held high after another strong showing against the 2018 winners, in a tie they were unlucky to lose despite losing three defenders to injury.

There was an element of fortune about the French goals, with both resulting from blocked shots falling kindly, the first arriving early on for Theo Hernandez before Randal Kolo Muani ended the chances of a Morocco comeback with 10 minutes left of a second half the Atlas Lions had dominated, in addition to hitting the post right at the end of the first period.

While that means France progress to the final, there is the potential for some small consolation for the Africans, as Ziyech and Morocco will now play a Croatia side featuring his fellow Blue Mateo Kovacic in the third-place play-off on Saturday.

As has been the case throughout this tournament, Morocco enjoyed huge support inside the stadium, heavily outnumbering their French counterparts and roaring their team on right from the first whistle.

However, they were left disappointed before the game had even begun when centre-back Nayef Aguerd, who had been expected to return from injury, withdrew from the line-up at the last minute. His defensive partner Romain Saiss was deemed fit enough to start after going off injured in the quarter-finals, though, as was Ziyech, the Chelsea man taking up his usual position on the right wing.

Despite a promising opening spell, Morocco didn’t get the start they wanted, either, as they went behind after just five minutes. An uncharacteristic piece of rash defending from Jawad El Yamiq, part of a back line which had previously conceded just once in this tournament, allowed Antoine Griezmann to charge into the box. It momentarily looked like the danger had passed as defenders swamped the ball and blocked two shots, but the ricochet fell kindly for Theo Hernandez and his half-volley evaded Achraf Dari on the line.

The Atlas Lions showed they weren’t about to fold after conceding that early goal, though, as Azzedine Ounahi forced a decent save from Hugo Lloris with a dipping effort from long range to get the Moroccan fans back on their feet, and they were still enjoying more of the ball than their opponents.

Ziyech was the next to threaten the French goal, as Boufal tried to play him in on the counter, but he was stretching as he shot and couldn’t find the target with his right foot. There was a warning for them at the other end straight away as former Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud ran clear of Saiss, who still appeared to be struggling with his injury, but struck his shot against the near post.

Unsurprisingly, that was Saiss’ last real involvement in this semi-final, as he was forced off and handed the captain’s armband to Ziyech. With 20 minutes played, Morocco had lost both their first-choice centre-backs to injury.

Ziyech produced one of Morocco’s most promising moments so far when a brilliant turn by the touchline left Hernandez in his wake, but Boufal clashed with the recovering defender as Ziyech tried to play him into space in the box and the referee gave the foul France’s way, much to the Morocco players’ frustration as they appealed for a penalty.

There were a couple of close calls from French counter-attacks, but Ziyech’s delivery from Morocco’s first corner of the game was a whisker away from leading to an equaliser. The defence struggled to deal with the whipped cross and when it broke towards El Yamiq, who had been at fault for the opening goal, he produced an impressive bicycle kick which struck the foot of the post before France were able to scramble clear.

Despite losing a third defender to injury during the break, Morocco started the second half on the front foot. A brilliant piece of play between Ziyech and Achraf Hakimi on the right - as we have seen so often during this World Cup - came close to carving open their opponents before some desperate French defending was needed to escape a couple of dangerous balls into the box.

The combinations between Ziyech, Hakimi and Ounahi out on Morocco’s right continued to cause France constant problems and threatened to create the equaliser they were pushing ever harder to find, but things just wouldn’t quite drop their way in the box when they needed them to, while knowing one lapse in concentration or French counter-attack could end their chances of a comeback.

There was a clear sign of the pressure the defending champions were feeling when, with 30 minutes left of the game, all 11 French players were camped within 30 yards of their own goal. Although France came back into the game more, particularly on the counter as Morocco threw bodies forward or through set-pieces due to the Atlas Lions’ eagerness to win the ball back quickly, it was still all to play for in an increasingly open game as it entered the last 15 minutes.

Substitute Abderrazak Hamdallah perhaps should have found the equaliser Morocco wanted so desperately at the end of an excellent run through the heart of the France defence, but he hesitated too long before taking the shot, allowing the opposition to recover and block.

Instead, it was a France sub, Randal Kolo Muani, who had only been on the pitch for a matter of seconds, who provided the decisive moment. It was Mbappe’s skill which created the danger as he weaved his way into the box and when his shot was deflected, it rolled to the back post for Kolo Muani to tap in from close range.

Morocco didn't give up, as shown when Hamdallah had a close-range effort cleared off the line in added time, but it wasn't to be for Ziyech and the Atlas Lions, who will now try to pick themselves up for Saturday's third-place match against the other beaten semi-finalists Croatia.