Sevilla’s Yassine Bounou has a reputation for being one of the more pleasant characters in Spanish football, but this week his personality was under attack from fake news.
Bounou, 31, has starred for Morocco in their historic run to the semi-finals of the World Cup. In particular, his penalty saves against Spain saw them through to the quarter-finals where he kept yet another clean sheet. Only Canada have breached the Moroccan defence – even that was an own goal.
In the run-up to the World Cup semi-final against France, Juan Manuel D’Angelo, an Argentine author, claimed the following:
“Despite speaking Spanish, French and English, Bono chose to give his press conference in Arabic. Facing criticism from the press for that decision, he simply said that it was not his fault if they didn’t know how to speak his language and that next time they should bring a translator.”
A pesar de dominar el español, el francés y el inglés, Bono 🇲🇦 eligió dar la conferencia en árabe. Ante las críticas de la prensa por esta decisión, simplemente dijo que él no tenía la culpa si no sabían hablar el idioma y que la próxima vez deberían llevar interprete. pic.twitter.com/HSLWeiCzfe
— Juan Manuel D'Angelo (@futboltrotters) December 10, 2022
As per Diario AS, this was an answer he gave ten months previously, at the African Cup of Nations, but was done so in a friendly tone. This did not occur at the World Cup, where he has responded to questions in all four languages.
Bounou is well-liked by his peers and in a recent interview with Cadena SER, Real Valladolid midfielder and fellow Moroccan Anuar Tuhami vouched for his good character.
