BEVERLY HILLS, March 21, (THEWILL) – In a La Liga match played on Saturday between Sevilla and Real Valladolid at the Estadio Municipal José Zorrilla in Valladolid, the goalkeeper for the visitors, Yassine Bounou, who scored an incredible and rare goal with the final kick of the match, has come out to admit that he had no idea how to celebrate his dramatic late equaliser that earned Sevilla a 1-1 draw.
The 29-year-old won a significant point for Julen Lopetegui‘s charges when he fired home a loose ball inside the box from an ensuing melee from a corner-kick that the hosts failed to handle properly or clear from their danger area so close to the final whistle.
The celebrations of the Moroccan international keeper and his teammates were understandably wild enough during the bizarre final seconds at the Estadio Jose Zorrilla that the 29-year old keeper got himself a yellow card.
But, that in no way dampened his excitement that he was almost lost for words after the game ended.
When he could get the words out in his post-match comments, he said: “It’s incredible, it’s difficult to describe and I didn’t know how to celebrate. You do your job in goal and it’s very strange to see you there (in the opposition box).
“I looked at the coach and he told me to go up (for the corner), the chance fell well for me and I am grateful to score.”
The shot-stopper’s goal is the second one for a La Liga goalkeeper this season. In January, Marko Dmitrovic, the man between the sticks for relegation-battling Eibar, scored from the penalty spot against Atletico Madrid.
Although a former Sevilla keeper, Andres Palop, had previously scored for the club in the UEFA Cup in 2007, Bounou became the first in Sevilla’s history to score in La Liga. The previous shot-stopper in the Spanish top flight to score from a non-penalty situation in the 21st century was Dani Aranzubia, who found the net in 2011 for Deportivo La Coruna.
Bounou’s last-gasp, history-setting goal was a thrilling sight for Lopetegui’s eyes. He had encouraged the goalkeeper to inch forward as Sevilla pressured the Valladolid defense for a leveller only to witness the Morocco international smash home the equaliser at the death.
As a former keeper, who featured for Real Madrid, Barcelona, Rayo Vallecano and the Spanish senior men’s national team, Lopetegui had nothing but praises for his keeper, with the experience to know that it was no mean feat.
He had a confession in his post-match remarks: “I’ve never scored a goal, not even in training but obviously it’s a great goal from our goalkeeper today.
“It’s not normal but it gave us some joy at the end of the game when we could have got three points, but it looked like we were going to come away empty handed.
“I just managed to speak to Bounou after the game and obviously congratulate him. I am sure there were a few jokes in the dressing room surrounding Andres Palop’s goal [for Sevilla] because everyone remembers that and it was obviously a very, very important goal in the Europa League and today was a very important goal for us as it came in the final minutes of the game and it helped us rescue a point.
“We’re very satisfied that we didn’t give up and we kept fighting to try and get back in the game. We kept on pushing and that is one of the characteristics of our team, and we got our reward.”
The keeper himself finished with the words: “It’s very strange, but hey, the team-mates were happy because we deserved more.”
