In March 2011, Taarabt missed two matches when he returned to France for family matters as one of his cousins had been killed. In the return fixture Morocco manager Erik Gerets opted to drop Taarabt to the substitutes' bench. Taarabt decided to not turn up to the international fixture and vowed to never play for his country again. However, several months later, Taarabt wanted to play for Morocco again, which Gerets reluctantly allowed, but said that if Taarabt acted irrationally again, he would not play for his country while he was in charge.