Meet Bono the Moroccan World Cup hero

SPORT

When Belgium's number one Thibaut Courtois was the starting goalkeeper for Atlético de Madrid, Morocco's shot-stopper Yassine Bounou, better known as Bono, was wearing the gloves for Atléti's B team.

Now, years later, the two goalkeepers are two of the stars of LaLiga Santander defending the colours of Real Madrid and Sevilla FC, respectively.

And Bono's story is particularly extraordinary.

Bono became the first Moroccan to win the Zamora Trophy and also the first Sevilla FC goalkeeper to do so.

The award was established by Spanish newspaper Marca in 1958 and it is given to the goalkeeper who has the lowest goals-to-games ratio.

Showing even better stats than Courtois, who was LaLiga and Champions League champion, as well as being subsequently awarded the Yashin trophy as the best goalkeeper in the world last season.

Bono came through the youth academy at Atlético de Madrid, leaving for a spell with Real Zaragoza to play for two seasons at La Romareda.

Then, in the 2016/17 season, the Moroccan departed for Girona FC, a team with which he won promotion to LaLiga and with which he made his top-flight debut a season later.

His good performances at Girona FC earned him a move to Sevilla FC in 2019, where he established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in Europe.

READ: Pitso: 'SA can learn a lot from Morocco'

As a member of the Moroccan national team, Bono has become one of the stars of the Qatar World Cup, after being decisive in helping the Atlas Lions qualify for the quarterfinals for the first time in their history. 

Especially for his performance against Spain, saving two penalties in the penalty shoot-out in the round of 16.

Curiously, Morocco also crossed paths with Courtois in the group-stage match against Belgium and won 2-0.