It is ultimately the Atlas Lions who will open the scoring in this meeting. On a corner taken by Hakim Ziyech, the Spanish defense completely misses his intervention and Mehdi Benatia finds himself alone at the far post to regain the leather of the head and deceive Simon (0-1, 37th). La Roja tried to react before the break and Asensio narrowly missed finding the fault with a new powerful shot, but Bounou pulled out a masterful save to keep his team in the lead (43rd).
The second act begins on the same basis as the first period. Spain dominate and push to equalise, while the Atlas Lions bide their time to counter. Luis Enrique’s men are showing themselves to be more and more dangerous and narrowly fail to find the fault on several occasions. Bounou is once again decisive on a point-blank header from Alvaro Morata (57′), then on a powerful shot from Sergio Ramos (63′).
Morocco is struggling to get out of its camp and seems content to defend fiercely to maintain its advantage. The Spaniards are stepping up their offensives and putting more and more pressure on the Atlas Lions. Finally, La Roja manages to equalize thanks to a penalty converted by Sergio Ramos following a handball from Romain Saiss (1-1, 82nd).
The end of the game is intense and both teams have their chance to win in regulation time. But neither of them managed to score and the game went into extra time.
The additional time does not work either and it is finally the penalty shootout that will decide between the two teams. The Spaniards first show clumsiness with shots from Sergio Ramos and Sergio Busquets, who are both stopped by Bounou. The Atlas Lions take the opportunity to score their three shots and win the session 3-2.
It is therefore a historic victory for the Atlas Lions, who reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time in their history. Their goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, heroic during the penalty shootout, was one of the architects of this fine performance. The Moroccans will now face the winners of the match between England and Brazil in the quarter-finals.
