Morocco 0-0 Spain (3-0 on pens): Player ratings as Spain dumped out of the World Cup

Morocco into the World Cup quarter-finals
Morocco into the World Cup quarter-finals / Catherine Ivill/GettyImages
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Spain are out of the World Cup after they produced a horrific set of penalties following a stalemate with Morocco.

Luis Enrique told his players they would not be in the squad unless they practiced penalties, but that did little good as they missed all three of their spot-kicks.

Spain attempted to assert their authority from the off. They quickly settled into their tiki-taka style in an attempt to starve the north African side of the ball and sap their energy.

However, while the possession Spain's, any semblance of panache belonged to Morocco.

They settled into a solid defensive shape in their own half and looked to break out with pace at every opportunity, and it was a tactic that was working well.

The livewire Sofiane Boufal showed twinkle-toes down the left to embarrass Marcos Llorente, but there was little in the way of chances. Nayef Aguerd wasted the best of the half-chances, heading over when he might have expected to do better.

Spain, meanwhile, were not having it all their own way at all. In fact their most creative outlet seemed to be Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, who was intent on playing out from the back when he really shouldn't have been.

Fortunately, the time he was eventually caught out the offside flag went up and spared the blushes of both sides with Spain somehow unable to force the ball into the net anyway.

If the first half was uneventful the second was downright boring. Spain continued to pass, Morocco continued to block, pounce, and retreat when it broke down. As the half went on, though, Morocco's threat faded.

Spain’s best chance of the second half fell to the man they would have wanted it to, Alvaro Morata, when they would have wanted it. However, he could only head high and wide when unmarked in injury time. Bounou was then needed to turn away an in-swinging Olmo free-kick at the death to send it to extra-time.

Extra-time followed a similar pattern. Spain freshened things up with by sending on Ansu Fati and Alex Balde, and Morocco needed to rely on some last-ditch defending at times to keep the scores level.

The big chance came to Morocco, though. Walid Cheddira worked himself some room in the box and should have scored, but his tame effort was saved by Unai Simon.

Spain had one final chance to win in without penalties, but Pablo Sarabia hit the post with practically the last kick of extra-time.

They would be made to pay for that too, with Sarabia, Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets all tamely missing in the shootout, allowing Madrid-born Achraf Hakimi to win it and put Morocco into the last eight of the World Cup.

Morocco player ratings (4-3-3)

Sofyan Amrabat
Sofyan Amrabat - superb in midfield / Quality Sport Images/GettyImages

GK: Yassine Bounou - 7/10 - Some nervy moments with his feet but excellent at the hands bit.

RB: Achraf Hakimi - 8/10 - A cut above his teammates in quality and it showed.

CB: Nayef Aguerd - 710 - Should have done better with first half chance to open the scouring but defensively superb.

CB: Romain Saiss - 7/10 - Led the Moroccan defence superbly.

LB: Noussair Mazraoui - 6/10 - Supported the exciting Boufal well down the left.

CM: Azzedine Ounahi - 6/10 - Probably the least effective of the Morocco midfield but a decent performance.

CM: Sofyan Amrabat - 8/10 - The key man in preventing Spain from enjoying their usual midfield dominance.

CM: Selim Amallah - 7/10 - Amrabat's sidekick in spoiling.

RF: Hakim Ziyech - 6/10 - Typically frustrating but always a threat.

CF: Youssef En-Nesyri - 6/10 - No real chances on the day.

LF: Sofiane Boufal - 7/10 - Fun to watch and a constant threat, although the end-product could've been better. Shame when injury forced him off.


Substitutes

SUB: Abde Ezzalzouli (66' for Boufal) - 6/10.

SUB: Walid Cheddira (82' for En-Nesyri) - 6/10.

SUB: Yahia Attiyat Allah (82' for Mazraoui) - 6/10.

SUB: Abdelhamid Sabiri (82' for Amallah) - 5/10.

SUB: Jawad El Yamiq (84' for Aguerd) - N/A.

SUB: Badr Benoun (120' for Ounahi) - N/A.

Manager

Walid Regragui - 7/10 - Set his team up well on the day, you'd have to say.


Spain player ratings (4-3-3)

Pedri
Not Pedri's day / Soccrates Images/GettyImages

GK: Unai Simon - 6/10 - The odd nervy moment but okay in general.

RB: Marcos Llorente - 5/10 - Not given a moment's peace by Boufal but hung on in there.

CB: Rodri - 6/10 - Did okay but Morocco's lack of a quality end-product helped him.

CM: Aymeric Laporte - 6/10 - Ditto. Not tested as much as Morocco would have liked, but the usual composure.

LB: Jordi Alba - 6/10 - Not at his most influential for sure.

CM: Gavi - 5/10 - First half passed him by a little, much better after the break.

CM: Sergio Busquets - 4/10 - Didn't stamp his authority on the game as you'd expect him to and missed his penalty.

CM: Pedri - 5/10 - Far from his best and didn't seem to fancy the physical battle at times.

RF: Ferran Torres -6/10 - The best of the starting Spanish forwards before he went off, but that didn't say much.

CF: Marco Asensio - 5/10 - Saw little in terms of chances but wasteful when he did get site of goal.

LF: Dani Olmo - 5/10 - Marshalled well by the excellent Hakimi.


Substitutes

SUB: Carlos Soler (63' for Gavi) - 5/10.

SUB: Alvaro Morata (63' for Asensio) - 5/10.

SUB: Nico Williams (76' for Torres) - 5/10.

SUB: Ansu Fati (98' for Olmo) - N/A.

SUB: Alex Balde (98' for Jordi Alba) - N/A.

SUB: Pablo Sarabia (118' for Williams) - 4/10.

Manager

Luis Enrique - 4/10 - You have to be doing better with a squad like he has.


Player of the match: Sofyan Amrabat (Morocco)