Fiorentina midfielder Sofyan Amrabat has apologised for a provocative social media post against Barcelona midfielder Gavi.

After beating Spain on penalties, Amrabat posted a photo on social media of him carrying a Scimitar and Gavi on his shoulder.

However he deleted it after some replied to him angrily. Amrabat spoke to Marca about it.

Before Morocco's World Cup semifinal defeat to France, he said: “I want to explain that. I have my Instagram account but there's also someone else who runs it for me too. They shared that image as a joke. I respect Spain a lot and when I heard that people did not like it, I deleted it immediately. If anyone was angry, I ask forgiveness as sincerely as I can. When the people were annoyed I decided to quickly delete it."

Amrabat praised the Barcelona youngster and his team-mate for club and country.

“Pedri, Gavi, they are players with a lot of talent. Personally, I liked legends like Iniesta for example. I also looked a lot at Zidane and Xavi Hernandez as intelligent players. I saw them a lot. Their movements between the lines were another level.

“They won all the titles a player aspires to."