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Spain’s golden summer could have the medals to match come Friday evening, as a 2-1 comeback win over Morocco in the semi-finals of the 2024 Olympic men’s football tournament sent them through to the gold medal match.
Amidst a lively atmosphere at Marseille’s Stade Vélodrome, neither side was able to gain a foothold in the first 15 minutes, which saw fourth official Glenn Nyberg have to replace referee Ilgiz Tantashev after he was injured in a collision with Marc Pubill.
Morocco’s Munir Mohamedi was the first goalkeeper to be tested after a tame opening as he was at full stretch to stop a 25-yard drive from Fermín López finding the bottom corner. However, as soon as Spain began to dominate, they found themselves behind.
Attempting a clearance from inside his area, Pablo Barrios was beaten to the ball by Amir Richardson, who Barrios caught on the back of the leg, and after Nyberg was sent to the monitor, he awarded a penalty kick to Morocco. Soufiane Rahimi made no mistake from the spot to maintain his record of scoring in every match of this tournament so far, extending his lead as top scorer.
Spain had opportunities to respond during the 12 minutes of first-half stoppage time, but Aimar Oroz saw his shot saved before Abel Ruiz’s effort clipped the post. After half-time, both sides were limited to long-range strikes, with Barrios stinging the gloves of Mohamedi while Ilias Akhomach sent a shot whistling over the bar at the other end. Yet, 20 minutes into the second half, Lopez capitalized on a loose Moroccan touch inside the area, set himself, and steered the ball into the bottom corner to get Spain level and take his tally for the tournament to four.
The Atlas Lions initially responded well to conceding, as Richardson and Eliesse Ben Seghir threatened from range. There was still to be a sting in the tall though, as just five minutes from time, Spain punished them and sealed victory.
Great play on the right wing from Lopez set up the advancing Juanlu Sanchez, who drilled the ball across the goalkeeper and inside the post to send La Roja to the gold medal match at the Parc des Princes on Friday to face either France or Egypt.
The loser of the other semi-final will face Morocco in the bronze medal match in Nantes, though the Atlas Lions can take heart from a spirited campaign having never previously finished better than eighth in their seven previous Olympic participations.
