Achraf Hakimi made himself the hero as Morocco beat Spain 3-0 in a shootout after a goalless draw to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.
The two teams could not be separated after 120 minutes and Spain failed to convert any of their three penalties, with goalkeeper Yassin Bono brilliantly saving two.
It left Paris Saint-Germain’s Hakimi – who was born and raised in Madrid – to win it with his sensational spot-kick and spark jubilant scenes in the stands.
The Education City stadium was packed with mostly Moroccan fans, who went wild at the final whistle as their team reached the last eight for the first time, where they will face either Portugal or Switzerland on Saturday (15:00 GMT). will
The fans of the North African team were singing to themselves all game but the atmosphere in the stands did not match the battle on the pitch.
Spain held the ball and Morocco sat back plugging spaces, creating few clear-cut chances.
Luis Enrique’s side came close to breaking the deadlock thanks to Dani Olmo, who struck an arrowing drive from an angle that Bono pushed away and the goalkeeper also did brilliantly to keep out Olmo’s dangerous free-kick late on. What did
Morocco were playing on the counter and should have scored in the opening period but Naif Agward sent his pinpoint header over, while their only shot on target came through Nossir Mazrawi’s long-range drive which was collected by Younai Simon.
With the sides inseparable, the game went into extra-time and substitute Walid Chedira had Morocco’s best chance but fired his shot straight at Simon from eight yards.
Spain made more than 1,000 passes in the contest and almost won it in the 123rd minute, but Pablo Sarabia’s volley agonizingly deflected wide of the far post.
Morocco march on
It was a cacophony of noise inside the stadium from kick-off as the Moroccan fans heavily outplayed their Spanish counterparts and it was the ‘West’ who were left celebrating at the final whistle.
Morocco became only the fourth African team to reach the quarter-finals at the World Cup, joining Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002) and Ghana (2010).
Their supporters sang, chanted and beat their drums for the full 120 minutes, with piercing whistles blowing every time Spain was on the ball.
And Sevilla goalkeeper Bono fed off that energy by saving penalty efforts from Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets, while Sarabia hit the post.
Star player Hakimi stepped up and was the coolest man under the most intense pressure, slotting his penalty – a ‘peninka’ – straight down the middle into the Moroccan quarter.
