Moriba Kourouma Kourouma, better known as Ilaix Moriba, was born in Conakry, Guinea, in 2003, but has lived most of his life in Spain. After a spell in Catalunya team Espanyol, Moriba joined FC Barcelona in 2010, at the age of 7. Due to his strong physical attributes and stature, Ilaix rose through FC Barcelona's ranks, usually playing with kids one or two years older than him. He had his first career break when he was called up to Barcelona's U19A Team in the 19/20 Season. This break caught the attention of Barca B coach and Ilaix was called up to play with the team.
The young promise made his trip from La Masia to the Camp Nou when FC Barcelona's coach, Ronald Koeman, called him up to play the Copa del Rey game against Cornella, which Barca won. The youngster had a spectacular game, having made a good amount of complete passes and recovering the ball in the midfield, until he was substituted by veteran Sergio Busquets. Since then, the Guinean-Spanish has been a regular during the first team's training sessions.
Feb 13, 2021, Koeman gave Ilaix a big surprise, he named him in his starting XI against Deportivo Alaves at Camp Nou. Moriba had a great first half. He was active both in attack and in defense, being compared at times, during the game, to Paul Pogba because of his box to box style of playing. He participated in several plays that almost ended up in FC Barcelona scoring. His big moment came when he assisted Francisco Trincao in Barca's first goal. The youngster came into the pitch with the same energy during the second half, and despite his error that caused FC Barcelona to conceive a goal, his performance, during the 64 minutes he played, was exceptional.
Ilaix Moriba has a great future ahead of him and it is up to FC Barcelona to develop a player who may become the next big star in the Catalan's midfield.
Ilaix General Information
-Place and Date of Birth: Conakry, Guinea, January 19, 2003
-Height: 1.85m or 6ft 1in
-Position: Midfielder
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