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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Mark Donlon

Morocco stun Spain as Kenny Cunningham makes hilarious jelly babies comment

Morocco are through to the World Cup quarter-finals after stunning Spain on penalties in the last 16.

Morocco defended stoutly all throughout normal time and despite not having a hatful of chances at the other end themselves, they looked to be comfortable at times as they formed a low block and continued to frustrate Luis Enrique's side.

Ahead of the tournament in Qatar, Enrique told of how he had instructed his players to practise 1,000 penalties as preparation for the possibility of penalties in the Middle East.

READ MORE: Cristiano Ronaldo DROPPED by Portugal for crucial World Cup clash against Switzerland

He said: ""Over a year ago, in one of the Spain camps, I told them they had to get here with at least 1,000 penalties taken.

"It's a moment of maximum tension, a time to show your nerve, and that you can shoot the penalty in the way you have decided, if you have trained it a thousand times."

But things didn't pan out the way he had planned as Spain sensationally missed all three of their spot-kicks.

Pablo Sarabia, Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets all stepped up for Spain and after Sarabia's effort came off the post and missed, their further two efforts were saved in wonderful fashion by Morocco goalkeeper Bono.

That set it up for Achraf Hakimi to win it for the north African side, and win it he did with a beautiful panenka gently stroked down the middle and into the back of the net.

Meanwhile in the RTE studio, Kevin Doyle and Kenny Cunningham - who both predicted a Morocco win - were full of praise for the winning side.

While Doyle pointed to the importance of recovery in the coming days, Cunningham felt the players ought to celebrate the moment.

"They'll enjoy the moment though, Kev's talking about jumping straight in the ice baths and wellying the fecking jelly babies down your throat.

"But I always found in the immediate aftermath you don't enjoy the moment so much, you almost don't allow yourself.

"I think it's great to see those celebrtions on the pitch."

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