France will play for a gold medal against Spain in the men’s football in front of a home crowd after beating Egypt in the semi-finals after extra-time.
Les Bleus scored twice in extra-time through Jean Philippe-Mateta and Michael Olise to see off a valiant display from the Egyptians.
Mahmoud Saber opened the scoring in the 62nd minute for the Pharoahs and were heading for a shock win until Mateta scored his first of the game with seven minutes of normal time remaining.
The current and former Crystal Palace stars then made the decisive difference after Egypt defender Omar Fayed was sent off two minutes into extra-time.
Stay for Thierry Henry’s celebration 🤩🤩
Jean-Philippe Mateta puts France ahead late on in the semi-final!#BBCOlympics #Olympics #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/qDr6GpJk5K
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 5, 2024
Spain reach final
Spain have the chance to add an Olympic gold to their Euro 2024 triumph after coming from behind to beat Morocco 2-1 in the semi-finals.
The 2020 silver medallists went behind after top scorer Soufiane Rahimi converted for his sixth goal of the Games.
Barcelona’s Fermin Lopez cancelled that out in the second half when he pounded on a loose ball to settle the tie.
Juanlu Sanchez then scored the winner five minutes from time, drilling home to send La Roja into Friday’s final.
🏁 𝗙𝗨𝗟𝗟 𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘!!
Santi Denia’s team never lost faith and it paid off!! ✨
💪🏻 What a team, what a family! Now let’s go for GOLD at #Paris2024!!
🇲🇦🆚🇪🇸| 1-2 | 90+7′#UnSueñoCompartido | #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/a1mGp79pDt
— Spanish Football (@SpainIsFootball) August 5, 2024
The bronze medal match between Egypt and Morocco takes place on Thursday.
