How many times did he save his own goal against France? Goalkeeper Yassine Bounou sets a historic record for saves and protects Morocco from a harsh loss.

Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou was solid on his goal line in the first half, and long postponed the decisive date in the World Cup quarter-finals against France, before eventually surrendering twice to world-class strikers, Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé.

The goalkeeper of Al Hilal Saudi Club, who represented the last line of defense for a team that chose to retreat instead of taking the initiative, gave the Atlas Lions a feeling that their goal would be impenetrable when he saved a weak Mbappe penalty kick (minute 28).
It was the fourth penalty kick he saved in the World Cup, making him, according to the statistics website Opta, a partner in the top goalkeepers in terms of success in this test since 1966.
His fellow substitute goalkeeper Mounir Al-Mohammadi said, praising him: “Bono is always present, and his performance during this tournament and his career with the national team are impressive. For me, he is the best goalkeeper in Africa and the Arab world.”
Bono blocked a shot from Mbappe (minute 4), then instinctively headed away a ball from Daewoo Upamecano following the corner kick that followed immediately.
Just before the water break, Mbappe was obstructed inside the area by Noussair Mazraoui, and the video assistant referee took a long time to approve the decision to award a penalty kick. This wait may have affected the focus of the “Blue Blues” captain, but not on Bono, who waited for the last minute to dive to his left and catch the Real Madrid striker’s weak ball.

One of the most prominent architects of the epic
This brilliance did not change the tactics of the “Lions”, who were determined to tightly close their goal, which was guarded by a goalkeeper who was one of the most prominent architects of the Moroccan epic in the 2022 World Cup.
-When midfielder Ayoub Bouadi lost the ball, and Desiree Douai tried to shoot, Bono was on time again to turn the ball into a corner (35).
-Just before the end of the first half, he also positioned himself well in front of Luca Digne’s shot, which hit the crossbar.
He recorded his first mistake in a match that had been perfect until then at the beginning of the second half, when he failed to clear a short ball that ended in a throw-in (46).
French pressure increased.
-In the 60th minute, Mbappe received the ball at the outskirts of the area, took two steps, and then fired a curved shot with his right from a distance of 18 meters, which was extremely accurate. Bono tried to tackle it, but he was unable to reach it and it settled into the side netting.
The Moroccan dam collapsed, without the goalkeeper bearing responsibility, as he simply faced the exceptional talent of the best scorer in the French national team (64 goals in 104 international matches), who equaled Lionel Messi as the top scorer in the 2026 World Cup with eight goals.
Morocco went into shock and did not succeed in regaining its balance. On the contrary, Bono conceded a second goal, despite touching the ball, after a low shot with his right from Ousmane Dembélé (66).
-The match was decided, but the goalkeeper did not give up, as he blocked Bradley Barkola’s shot (87th), then heroically saved his own goal in the last French attempt (90th minute).

Conclusion
In total, the 35-year-old goalkeeper made six saves during the match, compared to only one save by his French counterpart, Mike Maignan (and the statistics clearly show the difference: 21 shots, including 8 on goal for France, compared to 4 shots, including only one on goal for Morocco).
Bono conceded two goals against the precision of world-class strikers. However, if Morocco has fallen, the responsibility does not fall on him, but on the ten field players that coach Mohamed Wehbe included, who did not offer much.