Bono, un portero entre porteros
Yassine Bounou was Sevilla's hero against Manchester in the UEFA Europa League finals, which UEFA has invented to weather the storm as best it can. Palop was Sevilla's hero in 2007 with a header that put his team into the UEFA quarter-finals against Shakhtar. Monchi was Sevilla's goalkeeper from 1990 to 2000. Monchi faced Palop in June 1999. One in Sevilla, one in Villarreal. Two teams of Second Division looking for a place in First Division. Monchi won and Sevilla returned to First Division from where he never left.
Bounou is Bono in Spanish football. A Moroccan footballer born in Montreal (Canada) in 1991. He arrived in Spain in 2012 to join Atletico de Madrid "B". At the age of 21 he began his career in European football after a frustrated move to Nice. It seemed late, it seemed difficult, it seemed impossible. But those who know Bono know what he is capable of.
Omar Harrak is the goalkeeping coach of Girona, the club that consolidated him in the First Division. He knows Bono well. Many hours of training on the way from Girona to the First Division when it was his turn to alternate goalkeeping with Rene Roman. Very demanding when Girona was in the top 20 teams in Spain. Nine games were enough for Bono to win the starting lineup against Iraizoz and become a starter. "He knows how to live the secondary role and the main one and you don't change him, he has a personality that is difficult to change", qualifies Harrak.
What was seen of Bono against Manchester United in the semi-finals of the Europa League was the tip of the iceberg of his capabilities. "He's a prototype goalkeeper who is less and less visible. He's very tall, he's quick under the wing, he dominates the small area, he gets very big, he makes spaces smaller, he acts well with his feet and arms," says the former Girona coach.
At 29 years old and 192 centimetres tall, Harrak reveals that "the best of him is yet to come". His career began late in the day because the training processes in African and European football are not the same. His parents didn't understand what their son wanted to do either, and put the brakes on his growth. Omar Harrak thinks that "since he is in Spain and with the school of Atlético de Madrid, Zaragoza, Girona and Seville he has become an advanced student and he is going towards his best version". That version can arrive in the final of the Europa League against Inter Milan and, who knows, if it can be enlarged next season if Seville negotiates with Girona the purchase of the goal that has already been international absolute with Morocco on 11 occasions.
Lopetegui was also a goalkeeper between 1983 and 2002. More than 300 matches, leagues, cups and a Cup Winners' Cup with Barça. After a traumatic spell on the bench for the Spanish national team and Real Madrid, he is now showing what Rubiales did not allow him to do in that outburst of authority. Vaclík's injury after the restart of the competition did not worry Lopetegui too much. He already knew what he had on the bench, "we will give all the confidence to Bono who has been working all season," he said in a press conference.
Omar Harrak is working to bring Girona back to First Class and that there is a chance for Bono to return. Whatever happens, he is clear, "he is a very special person and no one can speak ill of Bono. He has an education, values and principles that set him apart from the rest. He's a street kid and football hasn't changed him, on the contrary, it's made him more humble".
Football is a stage. More marked for goalkeepers who can only defend one goal. The fine line between being a starter or a substitute and all the nuances involved in being on one side or the other are their daily bread. Bono's future will not depend on his stops against Manchester, nor on the final of the Europa League, nor on Girona's return to the top flight, nor on his possible transfer to Sevilla. The future of Bono is in every training and in the way he has been able to work in professional football. "He is a very self-taught person who takes positive things from all the stages". Monchi, Lopetegui, Harrak... the goalkeepers who have trusted in Bono know that the stage of the final of the Europa Legue is a deserved prize.
