With his stops, especially during the penalty shootout against Spain, the Sevilla FC goalkeeper was decisive for the Atlas Lions to qualify for the first time in the quarter-finals of a European Cup. world.

Not content with that, he excelled to take his team to the semi-finals and establish themselves as one of the top four teams in the world.

Morocco is also undefeated in the World Cup. They equalized with Croatia, beat Belgium 2-0, beat Canada 2-1, left Spain on the road from the penalty spot and, as if that weren’t enough, knocked out Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal.

Yassine Bounou, better known as Bono, conceded only one goal in the entire championship. Before the World Cup, during the Ballon d’Or gala, he received the 2022 Yashin Trophy.

“We are here to change mentalities and get rid of inferiority. Morocco are ready to face anyone in the world, beyond the semi-finals and everything else.” said the guard.

However, his path was not easy. He practically lived in the shadow of Thibaut Courtois, whom he eliminated with the Belgian national team. While Courtois was a goalkeeper for Atlético de Madrid, Bono was a goalkeeper for Atlético de Madrid B. Now, years later, the two goalkeepers are two of LaLiga Santander’s stars defending respectively the colors of Real Madrid and Sevilla FC.

Yassine Bounou is the goalkeeper who conceded the lowest goal average last season in Liga Santander: 24 goals conceded in 31 games played, 0.77 goals per game. This earned Bono the first Moroccan to win the Zamora Trophy, and also the first Sevilla FC goalkeeper to do so. He even featured better stats than Courtois himself, who was LaLiga Santander and Champions League champion, as well as later receiving the Yashin Trophy as the best goalkeeper in the world last season.

Bono played in the youth academy of Atlético de Madrid, from where he left for Zaragoza to play two seasons at La Romareda. In the 2016/17 season, the Moroccan went to Girona FC, a team with which he was promoted to La Liga Santander and with which he made his debut a season later in the top flight of Spanish football. His strong performances at Girona FC earned him a transfer to Sevilla FC in 2019, where he established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in Europe.

He is the son of Moroccan migrants who arrived in Canada, he was born in Montreal and returned to his parents’ country at the age of seven. He likes Argentinian football, it’s River fan, from what he said, because the first shirt his father gave him was that of the Albiceleste.

In fact, he confessed that his idol is Ariel ‘el Burrito’ Ortega. Bono also admitted that his dog was named Ariel, after the former River player.

He is playing his second World Cup. At Russia 2018, he came on as a substitute for Morocco against Munir Mohamedi’s property. The team he decided to represent, although he could do it for other nations, was eliminated in the group stage.

He has his revenge in Qatar, he is the goalkeeper of the semi-finalists with the fewest goals conceded. His challenge is to shine against France with the offensive power commanded by Kylian Mbappé.