Spain make the 'maracanazo' in Marseille and Morocco will fight for the bronze medal

Spanish defender Junlu Sanchez celebrates after scoring his team's second goal during the men's semi-final football match between Morocco and Spain at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games - Pascal GUYOT / AFP

José Toril

06 de agosto de 2024 (11:21 h.)

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France beat Egypt in the other semi-final

The Velodrome in Marseille was filled with red and white shirts. More than 50,000 Moroccans made the Olympic team play at home for a historic final that would give them the Olympic gold for the first time in their history. Santi Denia and Tarik Sektioui suffered from their respective games a tense and vibrant match of two teams looking for one more jewel to their football crown; Spain after winning the European Championship and Morocco after the fourth place in the World Cup in Qatar and for the future that is to come with a World Cup in 2030.

Al-Ain striker Soufiane Rahimi opened the scoring after 37 minutes following a clear penalty that didn't even need to be reviewed by the VAR. But the referee wanted to take longer than expected and that ended in unpleasant gestures from Achraf to Tenas, the Spanish goalkeeper to destabilise him. The goal also led to an unfortunate celebration by Rahimi which, fortunately, did not go any further.

Spain did not give up their game of touch between Fermin, Barrios and Baena in midfield while Abel Ruiz was waiting for a ball in the box. The Atlas lions kept stepping on Spain's area, but a great Eric Garcia saved the furniture for the Reds.

Achraf was looking for his medal and was one of Morocco's best players alongside Rahimi. More was expected from youngsters like El Azzouzi (Milan), Akhomachi (Villarreal) or Ezzalzoui (Betis), but none of them showed up when their team needed to score the second.

Spain pressed forward and Fermin found a hole in the defence to make it 2-1 in the 66th minute and set up Sevilla striker Juanlu Sanchez for the 1-2 in the 85th minute. That goal was worth a medal, a final, and Spain's substitutes ran the length of the pitch to celebrate a definitive goal that sunk the Moroccans.

Morocco striker Soufiane Rahimi celebrates with his teammates after scoring his team's first goal during the men's semi-final football match between Morocco and Spain at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games - Pascal GUYOT / AFP

Denia made two more changes and Morocco went for goal even with veteran goalkeeper Munir unable to finish off any moves.

Morocco will fight Egypt for bronze in a final that promises to be tense in view of the rivalry between the two teams in recent Africa Cups of Nations. Spain will be in the final three years after Beijing 2020, now without Luis de la Fuente as coach, but with Santi Denia looking for a long-awaited metal for Spain to revive that Barcelona 92 gold that is so fondly remembered in Spain. The Parc des Princes will be the stadium where Spain will be looking for the gold medal in Paris, while Morocco will do so in Nantes.