Luis Enrique’s homework to make Spain’s players score ‘1000 penalties’ completely backfired as his side crashed out of the World Cup with a shoot-out loss to Morocco.

After a goalless 120 minutes, Morocco made their first World Cup quarter-final in incredible scenes as Spanish-born Paris Saint-Germain wing-back Achraf Hakimi ended the tie with a cheeky Panenka.

Hakimi’s dink kept Morocco’s dream alive
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And Spain now have the World Cup’s worst-ever penalty record
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Before that though, Pablo Sarabia hit the post and Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets both saw their efforts saved by Yassine Bounou (Bono) who was in tears after the final whistle.

So were the Spain players too, having exited the competition early thanks to a scenario they were so well prepared for.

Speaking ahead of the knockouts, Luis Enrique was asked about Spain’s poor shoot-out record and said: “I imagine that they have done their homework.

“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.

“If you wait until getting here to practise penalties… [it won’t be enough], 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.

“It says a lot about each player. It’s trainable, manageable, how you manage the tension. It’s increasingly less luck – the goalkeepers have more influence.

Luis Enrique was left gutted
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“We have a very good goalkeeper, any of the three can do very well in this situation. Every time we finish training, I see a lot of players taking penalties.”

Despite Luis Enrique’s best efforts, Spain have now lost four World Cup shoot-outs, the most of any team in the tournament’s history, overtaking England.

Meanwhile Morocco become just the fourth African side to reach the final eight, and the first since Ghana in 2010.

It wasn’t much fun, though, with second-half substitute Walid Cheddira wasting three glorious breakaway chances.

Cheddira had a number of chances to send Spain packing
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But Sarabia could have ended things with the last chance of the game
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In what was a relatively dull 90 minutes, Spain again dominated the ball, but failed to produce any decent chances, much like in their previous group loss to Japan.

Spain had 77 per cent of the ball, but only converted that into two shots on target in comparison to Morocco’s three.

However, their best chance came in the final seconds of extra time, when Sarabia hit the post with shot that left everyone on the edge of their seats.

He then struck another post to begin the shoot-out, spelling the beginning of the end for Spain’s World Cup.

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