Herve Renard has explained that Amine Harit was excluded from Morocco's squad for their 3-0 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying victory over Malawi on Saturday evening for disciplinary reasons.
The North Africans cruised to all three points in Casablanca following Hakim Ziyech's opener and a Youssef En-Nesyri double, and moved to second place in Group B on three points.
However, the Atlas Lions were without one of their most talented attackers - Schalke 04's Harit - after Renard revealed that he turned up late for training.
"He wasn't in the matchday squad," Renard said in his post-match press conference, as per Arryadia. "Normally, he should have been, but as there was a disciplinary sanction, he wasn't in the 18.
"When we are in a group, you need to respect timings, and you need to respect other things.
"If someone's sanctioned, it's in order for them to be an example for the rest of the group."
In August, Harit was sentenced to a four-month suspended sentence after being involved in a fatal car crash in his homeland in June.
The midfielder fatally injured a pedestrian in an accident in Marrakech soon after returning from Russia, having made one appearance in Morocco's World Cup campaign.
The youngster was born in France to Moroccan parents and made his professional debut with FC Nantes in 2012 before leaving for Germany in 2017.