Africa on fire: Morocco beat Spain on penalties to reach World Cup quarters

Morocco sensationally dumped Spain out of the World Cup in a last-16 penalty shoot-out on Tuesday.

Spanish-born Paris St-Germain right-back Achraf Hakimi calmly converted the winning penalty to send Morocco through to the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time with a 3-0 shootout win over the 2010 champions after a cagey last-16 clash ended goalless.

Hakimi, a product of the Real Madrid youth system, calmly slotted his penalty past Unai Simon in Spain's goal.

Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou saved spot-kicks from Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets after Pablo Sarabia had hit the post and Spanish-born Hakimi held his nerve to earn his team a quarterfinal against either Portugal or Switzerland, who meet later on Tuesday night.

During the 90 minutes plus extra time, Spain dominated possession but failed to create many clear chances against Morocco’s stubborn defence.

Morocco became only the fourth African nation to reach the last eight of the tournament, 12 years after Ghana did so in South Africa.

After a scrappy match finished deadlocked at 0-0 after extra time with few shots on target, Morocco fed off the raucous support of their red-clad supporters in the shootout as Spain crumbled.

Spain enjoyed more than 75% of possession and completed almost 800 passes but Morocco caused problems for them on the counterattack and Simon had to keep Spain in the game with some good saves.

It was the fourth time Spain have been knocked out of the World Cup on penalties and the second in a row.