Tears shed, records smashed and a social media explosion - How Vozinha became Cabo Verde's global superstar

The veteran did not put a foot - or, indeed, a glove - wrong across the 90 minutes as a disciplined defensive display kept the European champions at bay.

Vozinha, who turned 40 earlier this month, became the oldest goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in a World Cup debut.

"For me, it's an honour to represent the country I love. We are from a very small place, and our qualification path was very difficult too," Vozinha said.

"Today our dream came true by competing against a team like Spain. I am very proud of all the people involved in that process.

"I cried after the game because I grew up with my grandparents when I was a kid, and they could not be there. They passed away a few years ago. My mum could not be here either because of a visa issue, and the money we had to pay for it. We did not manage to do this in time.

"We work in life to have moments like this. I am 40 now but I was not a professional up until I was 25. This is a reward for all this journey."

Incredibly, since 1966, the only goalkeeper aged 40+ to make more saves in a World Cup game than Vozinha's seven against Spain was Pat Jennings on his 41st birthday for Northern Ireland against Brazil in 1986 (10) - as confirmed by Opta.

Jennings' efforts did not stop Northern Ireland falling to a 3-0 defeat, though, as Careca scored twice and Josimar found the net.

Four decades on, Vozinha's saves were rewarded with a hugely impressive clean sheet against a Spain side capable of cutting even the best teams open; although star player Lamine Yamal was not introduced until the 71st minute.

Vozinha, who made brilliant saves to deny Marc Cucurella and Mikel Oyarzabal, was described as a "legend" by team-mate Steven Moreira.

"He is a big legend," Moreira said. "He's been in the national team for a long time. I am very proud of him. We joked a lot about him between us, but now doing this performance on a stage like this - being 40 years old, age is not important."

Vozinha was not alone in his heroics; Cabo Verde's collective effort warranted plenty of praise.

"The greatness in football still lies in the intangibles," said former Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou on ITV. "There was something inside those Cabo Verde players that wasn't going to let them yield today.

"We analyse the teams and say 'Spain should win this comfortably', but we don't have [written] down what they've got inside them, in their heart, and there's a small nation of people now who proudly say 'I'm from Cabo Verde' and there's a recognition from everybody in the world about who they are.

"They will be looking at this group, with Uruguay and Saudi Arabia, and saying 'we have a chance, we just slayed the dragon in our group'."

Another perk of Vozinha's exceptional showing on the biggest stage was an astonishing surge in social media followers.

He began the tournament with around 46,000 Instagram followers, and - at the time of writing - saw that number climb to 2.6 million.

That was largely the result of an influx of Brazilian followers, impressed by what they saw from Cabo Verde's new star.

"This is crazy, this is crazy," he said in an interview with CazeTV.

Vozinha will hope for another clean sheet and more recognition when Cabo Verde play Uruguay on June 21.

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