Yassine Bounou came out on top as he blocked two penalties to help Morocco defeat Spain in their Round of 16 fixture of the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022, at the Education City Stadium in Qatar. The match ended 0-0 in regular time and extra-time and then entered the dreaded penalty shootout. With Morocco converting their first attempt, Pablo Sarabia hit the post for Spain, and then it turned out to be a nightmare for the Europeans.
Morocco ended up winning 3-0 in the shootout, with Bounou also blocking Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets. For Soler’s penalty, Bounou dived to the right to block it and then followed it up with a save to his left to deny Busquets. It was then all upon Achraf Hakimi, whose panenka made it 3-0 for Morocco in the shootout and they knocked Spain out of the tournament. They also entered their first-ever quarter-finals in World Cup history.
After the PSG defender converted the final penalty, the limelight remained on Bounou, who was heralded by his teammates and also thrown onto the air in celebration.
Here is the video of the penalty shootout:
Here is the video of Morocco’s celebration:
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In what turned out to be a nervy encounter, Morocco attempted six shots, with two on target and Spain had 13, mustering only one on target. Meanwhile, Spain had more of the ball with 77% possession, with Morocco keeping 23%. In the quarter-finals, Morocco will face the winners of the final Round of 16 clash between Portugal and Switzerland. The other teams to have qualified for the quarter-finals are Netherlands, Argentina, Croatia, Brazil, England and France.
Croatia are scheduled to face Brazil in their quarter-final fixture on Friday, followed by Netherlands taking on Argentina. Meanwhile, Morocco’s quarter-final is on Saturday, with England’s clash vs France set for Sunday.