The Moroccan FC Sevilla goalkeeper Yassine Bounou put in a great performance on Sunday at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne. He led his club to the final of the Europa League after beating Manchester United 2-1.
The Moroccan international, a star of the semi-final, helped the Sevilla side book their ticket to the final with some incredible saves. He fisted away a floating free-kick from Marcus Rashford (39′), a tight shot from Bruno Fernandes, before coming out well at the feet of Mason Greenwood (46′) and twice at the feet of Anthony Martial (53′), from whom he had already repelled an attempt from a tight angle three minutes earlier.
This remarkable performance of the former Wydad de Casablanca player has aroused the admiration of his team-mates, but also and above all his opponents who have not stopped praising him. Manchester United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes the Moroccan international was decisive in the Andalusians’ qualification, describing him as “fantastic” who made “incredible saves”. In a statement to the press, the Norwegian coach congratulated the high performance and decisive interventions of the Moroccan international, and also said good words for Sevilla: “They have a good mentality and a good level”.
For his part, Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes, who scored his club’s only goal, stressed in a statement to BT Sport that Bounou “did very well” to avoid a bad result for the Spanish team.
“We are not satisfied with this result because we wanted to get through. Now it’s time to rest and refresh our legs,” added the Portuguese international.
Sevilla coach Julen Lopetegui, for his part, said Bounou put in an “excellent” performance, saying that without the Moroccan keeper, Sevilla would not have made it to the final. Bounou’s team-mates will face Inter Milan on 21 August in Cologne.
Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou signed a loan agreement with Sevilla FC at the start of the season for a season with an option to buy. Arriving in Spain in 2012 from Wydad Casablanca, the Atlas Lions goalkeeper played for the Atletico Madrid reserve team and Real Zaragoza, before joining Girona in 2016.
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