Yassine Bonou, aka Bono (Montreal, Canada; 32) is the goalkeeper for Sevilla, who host Juventus in the second leg of the Europa League semi-finals after the first leg 1-1 (Movistar LC, 9:00 p.m.). The year of the goalkeeper of the Moroccan national team, semi-finalist of the World Cup in Qatar, has been complicated, like that of his team…

Yassine Bonou, aka Bono (Montreal, Canada; 32) is the goalkeeper for Sevilla, who host Juventus in the second leg of the Europa League semi-finals after the first leg 1-1 (Movistar LC, 9:00 p.m.). The year of the goalkeeper of the Moroccan national team, semi-finalist of the World Cup in Qatar, has been complicated, like that of his team.

Ask. Born in Canada into a family of immigrants, he returned to Morocco and developed his career in Spain. Where do you feel?

Respond. My place in the world is Casablanca. There is my family, my friends and the club that I love (Wydad Casablanca). I feel Canadian too and I want to know more about this country. And with Spain, how to say, I feel something different. With Spain, I have love and gratitude. I feel at home.

Q Is it true that your father, a physics teacher, didn’t want you to be a footballer?

R Yes, my father is a teacher and in Morocco it is very difficult to have a career in football. But I wanted to be professional because of the memories I had of footballers like Naybet (he played for Deportivo) or Zaki Badou (Mallorca goalkeeper). It was a challenge that I set myself.

Q Why do you have so much admiration for Argentina?

R Because they are passionate about football and that passion stimulates me. Also because in Morocco there was a time when we consumed a lot of Argentine football. They gave it away on TV for free. The way we experience football in Morocco is very similar to the way they experience it in Argentina.

Q Sevilla champion with the Europa League and undisputed holder since 2020, José Luis Mendilibar arrived and placed him as a substitute in the League. Ho are you doing?

R I never felt like a starter or substitute in Seville. I feel like a player who has to prepare to meet the needs of the club. Even in my best moments here, I said the goal didn’t belong to Bono. Bono is a guy like everyone else, who came up with the idea of ​​being successful and who worked for it.

Q Is he a good partner?

R I think so, because I am very transparent and I see things with a certain relativity, beyond what we think in the world of football. I don’t go out to dinner or hang out with my teammates, but I’ve never disrespected any of them.

Q What are you afraid of?

R To loneliness, feeling alone in life.

Q Should a goalkeeper have the soul of a leader?

R Depends. Maybe so, but we have to ask ourselves what does a leader mean? A leader can be a guy who always talks and broadcasts nearby. A leader can also be an exemplary guy, who speaks little, who transmits from afar. In our team, that leader is Fernando. He transmits to me much more than a player who does not stop haranguing or talking. You have to lead by example, be respectful with your colleagues and with yourself. This leadership of people like Fernando is one that I share.

Q Is it important in football to be a good person?

R Many people will tell you that in the world of football, it is very difficult to make friends. There are red lines that you have to respect and football is like having a business. People in the family who think differently from you, who are of another religion or who have another mentality, can participate, but all this must be put aside because what matters is that the business works. Football is the same. What unites colleagues is the achievement of objectives.

Q Is it true that you were on the verge of depression during the World Cup in Qatar?

R Yes, I had a really bad time. In this football there are times when it seems like you are in prison, a slave to many things. You finish training and everything is forbidden. You don’t have to do this, you don’t have to do that… Entering this world, if you’re not mentally prepared, it’s complicated. During the World Cup, I got used to always being in the room, doing the same thing every day, and I felt anxious. And look, you’re playing against Canada, the country where I was born. And there is this fear, these negative ideas that if a strange objective materializes, they will say that, of course, since it is Canadian… And moreover with the mentality of Morocco. People believe it. And then came Spain. And of course people may think it’s the country that pays me and everything. The World Cup was not easy. In addition, there were so many successes then. I was not prepared for such success. And more so when you return to Sevilla and are in a position to fight relegation. It was not easy for me.

Q Did seeing a photo of your son dressed as a goalkeeper motivate you then?

R Yes, it helped me a lot. It helped me put things into perspective and see them in a more positive light. Listen, there are things in European culture that are wrong. People idealize everything. To be happy, you have to have a lot of things, hoard, succeed… And that doesn’t happen in a culture like Morocco or less developed countries.

Q Is happiness for Sevilla the Europa League and the elimination of Juventus?

R This year, we were doing very badly in the League, we had the Europa League, but we were considering giving priority to the League. However, now we can enter a final. The change came with En-Nesyri’s goal in Manchester. There is a before and an after this objective. Everything this club has with this competition has been generated and an energy has come out that we didn’t have. We are on time and we have the right to dream. We play against Juventus, a very great team, but we can pass.

Q What did Mendilibar give Sevilla?

R There is a before and an after begging. He came and made it easy for us. The boys felt freer and happier day by day. Football belongs to footballers. You don’t have to look any further. A coach arrives and everything starts to work and you don’t really know why. I said it the first day. in regards to begging In Seville, I was going to depend on the footballers because their proposal, which is good, depended on us.

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