Yassine Bounou, footballingly Bono as written on his shirt, is the hero of the day for Morocco and for a large part of the Arab world.
He saved three penalties against Spain and many came up with the comparison with Sergio Goycoechea, the Argentina goalkeeper who by dint of blocking penalties dragged Argentina to the final at Italia '90.
And the beauty is that he, 'Goyco', is one of the models that inspires Bono, as he is called.
It all stems from the love of this boy born in Canada of Moroccan parents (and for this reason he chose to play for the North African national team) for Argentine football, as he himself said, specifying that he is a great fan of River Plate.
At the age of 21, Bounou was bought by Atletico Madrid and met 'El Cholo' Simeone and above all his assistant 'Mono' Burgos, two symbols of the Buenos Aires team who instilled in him the love for the red and white colors .
Now Bono is at Sevilla, but his passion for River hasn't passed and, not surprisingly, he was at the Bernabeu when the Real Madrid stadium hosted the Libertadores final between River himself, who won,
"But I'm from River above all because of the 'Burrito' Ortega - explained Bono -, as a kid he was my idol. If he asked me to send him one of my shirts, I would do it immediately".
Also because, having learned how much the Morocco goalkeeper esteemed him, Ortega had given him an autographed River shirt a few days ago, "and I'm sure that - says Bono - brought me luck against Spain".
"But also say hello to 'Goyco' - his words in the mixed zone addressed to some Argentine reporters -. Of course I know him, his saves at Italia '90 caused a sensation, right?".
This is why the 31-year-old Moroccan-Canadian occasionally sees them on video: he needs them to be a penalty saver too, as he demonstrated yesterday.