Morocco dumped Spain out of the World Cup in a last-16 penalties on Tuesday, with Spanish-born Achraf Hakimi scoring the decisive penalty after Spain squandered all three of their attempts, following a 0-0 draw in 120 minutes.
A product of Real Madrid’s youth system, Hakimi calmly fired his spot kick past Unai Simon into Spain’s goal to seal Morocco’s 3-0 win in the shootout.
Throughout the 90 minutes plus extra time, Spain dominated possession but failed to create many clear chances against Morocco’s stubborn defence.
Morocco will advance to a quarter-final against Portugal or Switzerland, who meet later on Tuesday.
On Monday, Spain coach Luis Enrique was confident his players can beat Morocco in the last 16 of the World Cup and handle the pressure of a penalty shootout if necessary.
Morocco was a surprise group winner ahead of favorites Croatia and Belgium. Spain finished second in their group after losing to Japan to kick off Tuesday’s round of 16 against the only remaining African team in the tournament.
At last year’s European Championship, Spain were involved in two shootouts, defeating Switzerland in the quarter-finals before being knocked out in the semi-finals by eventual champions Italy.