Brave Atlas Lions beats toothless Spain on penalties to reach World Cup quarter-finals

Goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, also refered to as Bono made himself a continental hero as Morocco beat Spain 3-0 on penalties following a 0-0 draw after extra-time to book their spot in the quarter-finals of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

The 31-year-old saved La Roja’s all three penalties, while Morocco scored three out of its four efforts. Madrid-born Achraf Hakimi struck the decisive spot-kick to fire his side into the quarter-finals of the competetion.


Moroccan players immediately dashed forward to spirited Bono in celebration as Spain's luminuos run at Qatar 2022 ended in disbelief and heartbreak.


Morocco had couple of good chances to take the lead in the early minutes of the first half, with one golden opportunity being Hakimi's free-kick which flew over the roof of the crossbar.

Spain had a big chance of their own in the 25th minute when Ferran Torres broke into the Morocco box after a mistake from the Atlas Lions defence, but the attacker's effort was kept at bay by the linesman as he signals for an offside.


Luis Enrique's men kept pressing as Gavi and Dani Olmo's clean goalscoring chance were also flagged as offside by the linesman.  

After recess, Morocco continued to cause problems down the other end, with Walid Regragui's side threatening a first goal on the attack as Amrabat sent in a good pass to Walid Cheddira in a rare chance but he found himself clipped down by Aymeric Laporte.


Neither side could break the virginty of the game before the end of the full 90 minutes, with the match heading for extra-time.

The best chance of extra-time came to both side's, but the tiredness of the players was put into full force as both team balloned the few chances over the bar as Moroccan goalkeeper Bono kept most of La Roja's chance out, and a penalty shootout was therefore needed to separate the two sides.


Pablo Sarabia saw Spain's first effort hitting the post, allowing Morocco to take a 2-0 lead, with abdelhamid sabir and hakim ziyech finding the back of the net.


Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets was also denied by the gutsy moroccan goalkeeper, before Hakimi scored against his birth country to make it 3-0 to ensure Morocco progress to the next stage.

By: Pascal Nii Gogo Amoah