He is the man of the big matches! Moroccan international goalkeeper Yassine Bounou showed once again that he is the X factor of his team, Sevilla FC, during the Europa League final played on Wednesday evening in Budapest, against AS Roma.
Imperial throughout the match with decisive saves, “Super Bounou” turned into a hero during the fateful penalty shootout to allow his team to lift this prestigious trophy for the 7th time in its history and qualify. , at the same time, to the Champions League next season.
True to form, Bounou (32) pulled out all the stops at this crucial moment in the game to offer his team another European success.
While the two teams failed to decide during regulation time and extra time (1-1), the penalty shootout ended up sealing the fate of the match, thanks to the Moroccan goalkeeper who stood up as an impassable wall against the men of José Mourinho.
With two saves on Gianluca Mancini’s 2nd shot and Roger Ibanez’s 3rd, of which he alone has the secret, Bounou was masterful, showing once again that he is of the caliber of the greatest.
During the 2019-2020 season, his first with the Andalusian club, he greatly contributed to Seville’s 6th crown in the Europa League with XXL performances throughout the competition.
He particularly distinguished himself in the quarter-finals against Wolverhampton (with a penalty saved) and in the semi-finals against Manchester United, where he was the author of many decisive saves which enabled his team to reach the final and to win the European trophy against Inter Milan.
Since this first season in Andalusia, Bounou continues to impress, confirming that he is one of the best in the world in his position. Winner of the Zamora Trophy for the best goalkeeper in La Liga for his brilliant 2021-2022 season, he appeared the same year in the Top 10 of the Yachine Trophy, a prize awarded during the 2022 Ballon d’Or ceremony, to reward the best goalkeeper in the world.
In addition to these impressive performances with his club, it was in another major football meeting that the Moroccan goalkeeper proved once and for all that he is one of the greatest.
During the Qatar-2022 World Cup, Bounou was one of the stars of this edition where Morocco reached the semi-finals, an unprecedented feat on the Arab and African scale. Throughout the competition, he disgusted the attackers of the opposing teams, conceding only one goal in the first 5 matches.
The Moroccan goalkeeper notably made an impression in the round of 16 against Spain. With two parries on shots from Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets, he is the second goalkeeper to finish a penalty shootout unbeaten in World Cup history.
The last Moroccan bulwark, who played six matches with the Atlas Lions in Qatar, made history at the end of this World Cup, becoming the first African goalkeeper to achieve a clean sheet in three matches of the same edition of the World Cup.
An exceptional performance that earned the Moroccan international to be among the three finalists for The Best – FIFA Goalkeeper 2022 award, alongside Thibaut Courtois (Belgium – Real Madrid) and Emiliano Martínez (Argentina – Aston Villa ).
Yassine Bounou, a pure product of Moroccan football training in the Wydad Academy in Casablanca, continues to make the heyday of Sevilla FC alongside his compatriot Youssef En-Nesyri, always dreaming big and pursuing his quest for the greatest trophies in club and national team.