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Pablo Sarabia hit the post with the first penalty of the shootout before another substitute, Carlos Soler, saw his tame effort kept out by Yassine Bounou. With the score set at 2-0, the experienced Sergio Busquets was denied again by Bounou, diving to his right to keep out the Barcelona stalwart.
That allowed Achraf Hakimi the chance to make himself a hero against the country he had grown up in. The full-back came through Real Madrid’s academy after being born in Madrid to Moroccan parents, but opted to represent the African nation rather than La Roja.
And despite the pressure being lifted onto his young shoulders, the PSG star produced a sublime panenka – a chipped penalty – to deceive Unai Simon and send Morocco into the last eight. They join Ghana, Senegal and Cameroon in being the only African teams to have made it to a World Cup quarter-final and the first nation to do so since 2010.
Morocco will face Portugal for a place in the semi-finals after Goncalo Ramos inspired them to a 6-1 demolition over Switzerland on Tuesday evening.
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