Spain nearly dug it for us right then. 75'. Carvajal broke the line and squared it for Costa. Ten yards out, dead centre. Costa pulled his foot back to finish us.
"¡Mátalo, Diego!" a Spanish fan screamed.
[Costa. clean through. one on one with Bounou]
But Bounou refused to let us die. He came off his line like a man leaping on a grenade. No hands, just his whole body in the way. Costa battered it from point blank and it thumped Bounou in the chest, crack.
"Ohhh!" The stadium gasped.
The rebound dropped to Thiago, who hit it first time, and Bounou, still scrambling on the turf, threw a leg up and turned it over the bar.
Two saves in a second that had no business being saves. Bounou got up with his nose bleeding, eyes wild, and roared at his defenders, pounding the badge on his chest till his knuckles bruised. The red end came apart. One man keeping us alive.
"BOU-NOU! BOU-NOU! BOU-NOU!" they chanted, a rolling thunder of belief.
