Congratulations to Manchester United defender Noussair Mazraoui, who has helped Morocco reach the Africa Cup of Nations final.
Our no.3 played the full 120 minutes of Wednesday night's well-contested semi-final clash with Nigeria, which went to penalties as the scoreline remained deadlocked at 0-0 after extra-time.
Mazraoui and the tournament hosts prevailed 4-2 on spot-kicks, to book their place in Sunday’s final against Senegal, who beat Egypt in their last-four tie earlier in the day.
The new Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in the Moroccan capital of Rabat was a sea of red for Wednesday night’s semi-final, with a favourable home crowd hoping to see their team reach the competition's showpiece event for just the third time, and the first since 2004.
The home nation was by no means dominant across the encounter but always looked the more likely to get the breakthrough goal if there was going to be one.
Tournament top scorer Brahim Diaz of Real Madrid was looking to become the first player to net in six successive AFCON matches and curled narrowly wide in the opening 45 minutes, while African Footballer of the Year Achraf Hakimi swept a free-kick on to the top of the netting.
Nigeria goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali, who plays his club football for Chippa United in South Africa, was also kept honest by saving strikes from Stuttgart's on-loan Leicester midfielder Bilal El Khannouss, and Real Betis winger Abde Ezzalzouli.
The contest was to be decided on penalties though and it was Nwabali's shot-stopping counterpart Yassine Bounou who was the hero for Morocco.
The Al Hilal goalkeeper kept out two of the four penalties he faced, before Fenerbahce’s Youssef En-Nesyri stroked home the winning effort that was celebrated by Mazraoui and co.
Nous - not available for Saturday's Manchester derby - is now preparing with his team-mates for Sunday’s final against Senegal (kick-off 19:00 GMT), where they have the opportunity to be crowned champions of Africa for the first time in 50 years.
The Atlas Lions have won the trophy once previously, in 1976, and will be familiar with their surroundings at the weekend, as the game is due to be played at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, where each of their six previous outings in the tournament have been hosted.
Morocco finished top of Group A with seven points after wins over Comoros and Zambia sandwiched a draw with Mali. They only conceded one goal in the group phase and are yet to have their rearguard breached in the knockout rounds, seeing off Tanzania (last 16) and Bryan Mbeumo’s Cameroon (quarter-finals) without reply, to boast the competition’s best defence.
Senegal, meanwhile, topped Group D and have since beaten Sudan, Mali and Egypt. The 2021 winners – their lone success at the tournament to date – beat the latter 1-0 on Wednesday thanks to a goal from former Liverpool man Sadio Mane.