Image source: Alamy Stock Photo
2024 Olympic Games
Football
Men's final
Parc des Princes
Paris, France
8 August 2024
It will be all-European final in the men's football tournament at the
2024 Olympic Games as France and Spain battle it out for the gold medal at Parc des Princes on Friday, August 8.
Les Bleus have won all five of their matches thus far, scoring 11 goals and conceding just one in the process. Their goal hadn't been breached until the semi-finals when Mahmoud Saber opened the scoring for Egypt in the 62nd minute.
Thierry Henry's side battled back, however, as Jean-Philippe Mateta equalised on 83 minutes and got his name on the scoresheet again in the 99th minute before Michael Olise sealed the comeback win nine minutes later.
France have reached the final for the third time in their history and are looking for a second gold medal after beating Brazil 2-0 in the 1984 final.
The host nation are third in the medal table with 13 gold, 16 silver and 19 bronze, and Henry is delighted to be adding to that tally, although he hopes his team will finish at the top of the podium.
"I am going to be honest, I am mainly happy for Team France because when you see everyone picking up medals all over the place, you say to yourself that you can't let them down," the former France international said.
"You don't want to be the team that doesn't win a medal, so at least that is done, and now we will see what colour we get. But honestly I am living a dream and I don't want to wake up."
Image source: Alamy Stock Photo
Spain's perfect record came to an end with a 2-1 defeat to Egypt in the final round of the group stages, but they quickly bounced back by beating Japan 3-0 in the quarter-finals.
La Roja then had to dig deep in the semi-finals as they came from behind to win 2-1 against Morocco and book their place in the final for a fifth time.
The 1992 gold medalists are hoping to go one better than at Tokyo 2020 when they lost 2-1 to Brazil after extra time in the final.
Santi Denia was seen celebrating exuberantly after the final whistle against the Atlas Lions and admitted it was his way of relieving stress.
"Let me be happy from time to time, I've also taken out all the stress we've been carrying in this tournament. I was happy for the whole group: players, coaches ... They are a family that gets along very well. I was really happy for everyone," Denia said.
"We knew it was a team with a good level, you saw that. They (Morocco) had just scored four goals against the United States. They have great players who want to play, they've put out an attacking line-up.
"But we were able to get the better of them and come from behind. Morocco went for the game. They put out a line-up to go for the game. I congratulate them for the line-up they put out. I congratulate the Moroccans for the great job they did."
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